


See Beneath

by Vixx2pointOh



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternative Universe - No Arrow, Bring tissues, Complete, F/M, Flirting, Fluffy, Fruit Platter, Fun, Getting Down, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jealous!Oliver, Light Angst, Light Bondage, Little light, Not Interested Felicity, Oliver Charm, Orgasm Denial, Romantic Oliver, Sassy Felicity, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Sexy Times, Smut, So much flirting, little dark, side character death, travel the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:02:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 100,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8053801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vixx2pointOh/pseuds/Vixx2pointOh
Summary: They're on a boat....128 days on the lavish trip of a lifetime around the world, at least it should be for Oliver, a VIP with all the trimmings.Felicity, the sassy IT manager is just there for the paycheck.A voyage of discovery set against the backdrop of some of the best scenery the world has to offer....if only they were open to it.***COMPLETED***





	1. The Meet-Cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So THANK YOU to everyone who voted and commented, I truly appreciate it, you made the difficult choice for me.
> 
> I'm going to leave this summary untouched, just because.
> 
> Xox @someonesaidcake

 

“No, you don’t need to plug it in anywhere, it’s WiFi sir” Felicity sighed, wrapping a red pen idly around her blonde hair  
“WiFi, wireless, no wires” she was aware her eyes were rolling but thankful the above middle aged (she guessed) gentleman down the phone couldn’t see it

It was almost 3am and after working a 12hour shift Felicity wanted nothing more than to slip between the covers of her bed in her tiny staff cabin and sleep, but instead she was pushing her thumb deeper into her temple as she tried it explain simple connection issues to some rich old guy who was probably enjoying his ludicrously large suite aboard Verdant on only day 2 (given it was after midnight) of this 128 day around the world cruise.

 _127 days to go, 126 if she didn’t count today, but that was probably cheating…_  
“Sir, if you can see the picture then you are connected”  
_127 days._

The door flew open jolting Felicity instantly to her feet, the headset still entwined in her hair. She watched with wide eyes as a young guy, not much older than herself, stumbled in looking horrendously confused.

“This isn’t a storeroom” he laughed, pulling at the lapel of his black tux jacket  
“No, it’s not, it’s the IT department” Felicity replied, noting the young guy with a head of thick black hair was clearly drunk

A bronzed blonde in a dress that was missing at least 3 inches to really be considered a dress, stumbled in behind the tux, pulling on the leather belt that maintained his dignity. Her lips sucked into his neck as her body wobbled on the sky-high gold heels.

“Fuck me heeere Tommy” she purred, or in Felicity’s opinion, slurred  
They staggered further into the room, tiny dress pushing tux onto Felicity’s desk sending a keyboard and a neatly arranged pen holder crashing to the ground.

“Oh god, no, no, no, you can’t, that, here” Felicity pushed her palms against the flat of tux’s back  
“Not you sir” she spoke into the coms as the older gentleman took offence to his assumption that she was judging his Internet habits

“What you do in your cabin is entirely…” she tried to smooth his agitation as she watched tiny dress yank the jacket off tux

“God, don’t you have an exceptionally nice room to do that in” Felicity squirmed as she pulled her notebook out from under tux’s ass  
“No, not you sir, no judgment” back into the coms “No I don’t need to know what you’re looking at, yes I’m sure it is a perfectly healthy expression of love”

Felicity’s eyes squinted closed as tiny dress licked noisy slurps up tux’s now-exposed chest.  
Day 2 and people were likely going to have sex on her desk and she was trying to convince a passenger that she was not judging his fetish of grown men dressing as babies…. _Day 2._

“Tommy?” a male voice was calling down the hall moments before a less disheveled tux appeared in her doorway.  
“Oh god, I’m sorry, they got away from me” Oliver smiled apologetically as Felicity stood wide-eyed with her back pressed firmly against the far wall  
“These belong to you?” she asked, pointing a long arm towards the two in a half state of undress on her desk

“Sorry” he offered with a kindly wink  
The voice on the other end of the coms jabbering about being able to watch the videos now snapped her attention away from the blue of his eyes.  
“No Sir, I’m positive I don’t need to see, I believe you” a pause while she rubbed a hand down her face “a completely natural thing for adults to experiment with” she was shaking her head slowly back and forth, her softly painted lips turned up into a grimace.

Oliver pulled Tommy from the desk and pushed him from the room, his date tottering out after him, red lipstick smeared across her chin.

Felicity waved him on as she continued to speak into the coms “My name? Uh….. Sarah” she lied “No, I don’t need to visit your room, okay, goodbye sir”

She ended the call and threw the headset onto her desk as her whole body shuddered “Argh, dirty old man, that is not natural” she quipped to herself

“So uh, sorry about them” Oliver piped up, watching as she muttered to herself while collecting the spilt pens from under the desk  
“Shit” she jerked her head upwards, banging it on the underside of the desk  
“Jesus” she stammered, clutching a palm to the top of her head  
“I’m sorry” Oliver tried to stifle a laugh as he dropped to his knees to help her  
She batted his hand away.  
“It’s fine, you just weren’t supposed to hear me bad mouthing a passenger” she sighed “day two and I’m going to be fired, fabulous”

Felicity crawled out from under the desk and stood up, rubbing a hand over her tender head.  
“I promise not to say a thing” Oliver chuckled “Sorry Sarah, for uh, everything” he continued, his eyes tracking around the room

He extended a hand for her to shake which she stared down at slightly bemused by the gesture.  
“Felicity” she replied, folding her hand into his “I just give a fake name to the ones I need to avoid”  
His lips curved up at the corners into a soft smile.  
“Oliver”  
“Well Oliver I have a date with my bed, so goodnight”  
“Goodnight, and again sorry, I hope your bed is good to you” he winked  
“Oh not as good as yours would be…” she clamped her mouth shut and blushed a distinctive shade of embarrassed “I mean because you probably have a nicer bed, not _you_ , you, but people _like_ you” she huffed “passenger rooms are nicer”

She groaned at her own flub.  
Oliver said nothing as he watched her sling her bag over her shoulder and gesture him from the room.  
“Can I walk you anywhere?” he asked as she pulled the door shut and locked it  
“I think you should be more concerned with them” she replied pointing at tiny dress and tux who were humping against the plush white wall.

“Dammit Tommy” he called out as he stomped down the hall  
When he turned back the petite blonde had vanished.  
_Day 2 he smiled to himself maybe this trip hadn’t been such a terrible idea after all_

**************

** **

**Mood** : light, fluffy, sexy, fun, little angst, probably some tears, tough choices, discovery, awakening  
**Oliver** : playboy, slightly damaged, little jealous, secret romantic  
**Felicity** : sassy, not interested, damaged optimist, scared to fall  
**Song** Inspiration: Beneath Your Beautiful ~ Labyrinth

 _You've carried on so long,_  
_You couldn't stop if you tried it._  
_You've built your wall so high_  
_That no one could climb it,_  
_But I'm gonna try_  
_I'm gonna climb on top your ivory tower_  
_I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out_  
_We'll be falling, falling but that's OK_  
_'Cause I'll be right here_  
_I just wanna know_  
_Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?_  
_Would you let me see beneath your perfect?_

 

 


	2. The Dance

**Day 2; Cruising the Florida Strait**

Oliver tapped through his emails, paying little mind to them as he glanced around the luxury master suite. It was ridiculously opulent, but Tommy had insisted they each have one, joined by the a wrap around deck.

He still wasn’t sure how Tommy had convinced him 128 days away from his family and, probably more importantly, his job, was a good idea, but Oliver had dropped the small fortune nevertheless and here he was, 3pm on day two regretting just how quiet everything was.

Oliver had lived the last 3 years, since the accident, in a constant state of controlled chaos, juggling a litany of guilty mistakes and hidden sadness. It all seemed to Oliver as though he lived on a tightrope balancing over a rumbling volcano, terrified that a single misstep would see it all come undone. He hid his fears behind a curtain of lavish parties and easy girls.

He was, after all, Oliver Queen. CEO, confirmed bachelor, hedonistic thrill-seeker and affluent playboy didn’t mix well with anxious and guilt-ridden.

He abruptly stood from the desk, eager to dull the crawling sensation that was stirring under his skin. Rummaging through the bedside table he pulled out a bottle of _Valium_ and swallowed down two with a gulp from the bottle of spring water that sat atop of the table. He watched his hand shake for just a few moments before a tap on the bedroom window drew his eyes upward.

He was met with Tommy’s infectious grin as he gestured for Oliver to open the deck doors. Oliver buried the pill canister back in his drawer and walked into the living area and over to the bolted doors. He unlocked them and slid open the door to a chirpy Tommy.

“Aren’t these suites ridiculous?” Tommy grinned with a nodding head  
“That’s one word for them” Oliver replied, tapping the lid on the baby grand piano with a matched grin “is there a reason you’re in mine and not your own?”

“There is a girl in my shower” Tommy shrugged, slinking into the light olive-coloured armchair  
“And you’re here to gloat?”  
“More like escape”  
“That doesn’t sound like you” Oliver replied sarcastically  
“Honestly man, I don’t even remember her name and she was talking about doing some scuba excursion when we anchor tomorrow, so I fled”  
“You know she knows where you’re staying now”  
“Switch rooms?” Tommy clapped his palms together, praying  
“Not a chance Merlyn”  
“Shit. So what happened with you and the hot Russian in the bar last night?” Tommy asked, rising from the chair and making his way over to the fully-stocked bar  
“Struck out” Oliver lied, knowing the truth was that he hadn’t even bothered to try after she took at least 20 selfies, cursing in Russian after each one until she finally got one she seemed pleased with

“That’s Oliver speak for ‘didn’t even try’” Tommy sighed placing two scotch tumblers onto the smooth black granite bar top.  
“Did you even talk to any girls last night?” he asked, pouring a double nip of scotch and holding the glass out to Oliver

Oliver took the glass and sipped back the smooth aged alcohol, savouring the pleasant burning sensation it trekked down his throat.

“Felicity, I spoke to a Felicity” Oliver answered pointing a finger back at his friend  
“European?”  
“American”  
“Ah, sampling the homemade goods. She was at the bar?” Tommy asked, sipping on his drink  
“No, it was after the bar, she works on the ship”  
“Fuck, a waitress?” the glint in Tommy’s eyes could be seen clear across the room “Oh, or lounge singer, no wait a masseuse, dear God say she’s a masseuse”

Oliver shook he head with a chuckle at Tommy’s almost grovelling tone.  
“She works in the IT department”

Tommy’s brow furrowed immediately as his nose scrunched up.  
“You’ve lost me, is that code for something? How’d the heck we end up in IT?”  
“You actually, you and the girl you picked up last night, you were about to bang on the poor girl’s desk”

Tommy sucked down the rest of his drink with a look of utter confusion cemented on his face.  
“Ooooh, that explains the pen”  
“The pen?” Oliver asked  
“There was a red pen in my suit pants, I wondered where that came from” he shrugged “So, she was cute?”

Oliver smiled thinking about the way her pink lips had folded over each word, how her neatly trimmed nails were a deep shade of green and how even at 3am she looked effortlessly beautiful in a way that went beyond the smoke and mirrors of fancy clothes and expertly applied make up.

“I’ll take the dumb grin as a yes. So, worked the Oliver charm on her, is she coming out tonight?”  
“Ah no, not exactly, you didn’t give me much of a chance”  
“Yikes, sorry Oliver, I’ll make it up now, let’s go find the hot genius of your day two cruising dreams”  
“I don’t think so” Oliver replied, shaking his head  
“Come on man, your wingman is here, hundred percent”  
“You’re just trying to avoid the girl you abandoned in your room”  
“You are not wrong my friend, but all the same, let’s find Oliver a Felicity”

* * *

  
Oliver stood outside the door with the simple gold plate on it that read _IT Department_. He was unusually nervous as his fist hovered an inch away from the door. He shook his head at the ridiculous nature of it – Oliver Queen didn’t get nervous around girls, did he?

He knocked on the door and then opened it slowly, half expecting to be greeted by her soft, but face-encompassing smile.

Instead he was met with the glare of a decidedly pale 20-something with a flash of ginger hair and black-rimmed glasses  
“I’m looking for Felicity?” Oliver asked  
“What do you want with my girl, bruh?” came the completely unexpected response  
“Bruh?” Oliver repeated, a single arched brow  
“What about it?” the ginger scoffed

“Felicity is your girlfriend?”  
Oliver tried not to sound surprised, after all on paper he and Felicity would seem equally as unexpected.

“What you don’t think me and Felicity would bump nasties, pretty boy?”  
_Pretty boy?_ Oliver could help but wonder where this guy had been during the mandated customer service training he clearly missed

“Will she be in soon?” Oliver asked, ignoring the previous pot-shot  
“She worked the graveyard twelve hour shift, they give her the day off” the reply came with a bonus eye roll  
“Well if you see her, could you let her know Oliver in room 1001 came by”  
“Oliver, room 1001, writing it down” he drew lines in the air mockingly  
“You know I can see you right?” Oliver replied  
“Excuse me, I have to take this” ginger fro responded, picking up the phone that hadn’t rung

Oliver shook his head softly in disbelief before leaving the office, pulling the door shut after him.

“So did you find yourself a hot nerd date?” Tommy asked, scooting up behind Oliver  
“You really shouldn’t be allowed to speak, but regardless she wasn’t there. I’m heading back to my room, I have work to do” Oliver huffed

“At least take the scenic route past the pool deck” Tommy smiled, flicking up the collar of his casual baby blue shirt  
“Fine” Oliver sighed, aware the Valium had failed to completely take the edge off, perhaps a brisk walk around the deck would.

* * *

  
Oliver’s white loafers looked even starker against the teak wood deck as he breathed in the thick salt air, surprised by the way it seemed to calm the stirring under his skin.

It was only by chance his eyes tracked over to the far corner, where nestled into a deck chair with a book in her hands and her blonde locks pulled back into a ponytail was -he was almost certain -Felicity.

Without a word he stopped and changed his path, heading straight towards her. Tommy skidded to a stop a few moments later and scampered between the row of occupied loungers to catch up.

“Felicity?” Oliver asked leaning down to see around the book blocking her face  
Felicity dropped the book against her chest and looked up, her blue eyes shielded behind her blue-rimmed glasses  
“Oliver” she replied, a flickering smile over her pink lips  
He perched himself on the empty white and blue padded banana lounger beside her, nervously rolling his hands over each other, trying to find something to say.

He toyed with the lines her would normally pull out for a girl, but something immediately gave him the impression those wouldn’t work on Felicity.

“Is there something you need?” she asked, peeling her glasses from her face, blinking as the sun hit her light irises  
“I went to your office” Oliver replied, casually trying to make conversation, the sudden awareness he was somewhat out of practice caused a hitch of nerves in his throat  
“Okay. Did you need help?” Felicity questioned, folding her finger into the page in her copy of _Fahrenheit 451._

“A book about fire fighters?” Tommy piped up, standing at the feet on the chair  
Felicity glanced down, her shoulders slowly slumping before she looked up at Tommy.  
“Sure, why not” she shrugged before turning her attention back to Oliver  
“But honestly Oliver, you’re surely not here to discuss books, so please, let’s stop this dance around awkward banter”

“I met your boyfriend” he blurted out in response  
“My what?” Felicity laughed, a bubbly free laugh that was almost infectious  
“Short fellow, glasses, big ginger hair”  
“Oh good God, Martin, no he’s not, nope” she shook he head, her face playfully grimaced  
“Oh, he said you two were” Oliver paused, _bumping nasties_  
“Mmhmm he does that, but that, nope” Felicity scratched her fingers idly across her scalp

“Dinner?” Oliver asked, smiling brightly, embarrassed at just off his game he felt  
“What?” Felicity asked, shifting slightly in the chair  
“Dinner, where you eat” he sighed, trying to put his awkward start behind him  
“I’m familiar with the concept” Felicity nodded, her brow pulled inwards  
“Would you like to?”  
He could feel his palms unusually sweaty, this girl was making him work where others had not.

“I don’t want to read too much into this Oliver, but are you asking me out on a date?” she met his stare with her own, one eyebrow arched  
“Yes, Felicity would you like to go to dinner with me?” Oliver finally caught he nerves, ending the question with a smile  
“Thank you, but no” Felicity replied, easing herself back down into the seat of the lounger

Tommy laughed suddenly before sending his hand rocketing across his mouth, forcing out a fake cough, in an attempt to disguise the outburst. Oliver scowled up at him, his eyes launching daggers at his best friend.

“I’m just going to, uh” Tommy coughed, pointing in a random direction “over there” he added, walking away, stifling the pending laughter as best he could

“You’re saying No?” Oliver asked, returning his gaze to Felicity  
“No, I’m saying no _thank you_ ” Felicity corrected

She sat back, opening her book as Oliver stood, surprised, from his perch. He started to walk away, but there was just something he needed to know. He stopped and walked the few feet back to her.  
“Are you saying no to dinner, or no to dinner with me?” he asked, a hand scraping through his hair

Felicity glanced up over the top of her book, breathing out a sigh through her slightly parted lips.  
“Would it matter?” she asked  
“Yea, probably not” he mumbled, turning around  
He walked away, eager to put that hideously awkward exchange far behind him.

“Was she the first girl to ever say no to you?” Tommy asked, a glass of whiskey now in his hands, as if appearing from nowhere  
“No” Oliver replied sharply “maybe” he shrugged  
“Yes” he finally settled on the true answer  
“Damn, that was brutal. Who is this Felicity?”  
“I have no idea” Oliver sighed, rolling his head over his shoulder to glance back at Felicity, her nose buried in the book again.

* * *

  
Oliver had spent the rest of the afternoon into the early evening pounding away on his laptop, a sudden surge of work-related fervour taking him over and providing him with the perfect distraction. Felicity had rattled him, not because she had turned him down, but because her turning him down had actually affected him.

He barely knew her, yet she was occupying more of his mind than past month-long relationships ever had.

There was just something inherently _different_ about Felicity…He didn’t even know her last name…but he saw that difference the moment he walked into her office and it was a point of difference he couldn’t help but be intrigued with.

For the second time that day, he was forced to look up from his task by a heavy tapping against glass, this time on the sliding door directly in front of the table he’d taken over with papers and files.

He waved Tommy in through the unlocked door as he set about finishing the last few words of the email he had become distracted from.

“I’ll be asking the concierge to lock the gate between our decks if you keep this up Merlyn” Oliver smiled, not even glancing up as Tommy flopped into the chair beside him.  
“We’re going out for some food” Tommy announced folding down the screen of the laptop before Oliver had a chance to interject “that will still be there tonight, or hell tomorrow even. You’re here to relax, at least try Oliver”

“I’m not really dressed for the occasion, nor do I feel like changing” Oliver replied, tugging on the hem of his grey tee.  
“No need to change, the Pool Grill is on the pool deck, come as you are” Tommy slapped Oliver’s knee as he stood from the table  
“You know in these rooms we can get food delivered” Oliver sighed  
“Live a little Queen, you might find a way to enjoy it again”

* * *

  
Oliver followed Tommy through the meandering groups of people on the fairy light-lit deck, most of the loungers now removed and replaced with chairs and tables. The air was filled with the pleasant sound of an acoustic rendition of a pop song from someone who, to Oliver, seemed too good to be playing cruise ships.

Tommy took a seat at one of the bar height tables, a classic Merlyn MO to scout out any particular ‘talent’ among the crowd. Oliver’s eyes scanned the deck, meeting the eyes of a few _tick the box_ ladies that would fit the Oliver Queen standard issue mould as the world saw him.

It wasn’t until the brunette in the skin tight jeans and red crop top moved to the side that he saw her. Sitting alone at a table for two in the corner, open book on the table eating a decidedly large salad.

“I’ll be right back” Oliver muttered, blindly tapping Tommy’s shoulder  
Tommy waved him on in response as he played eye tag with a petite blonde by the bar.

“You’re eating dinner” Oliver spoke as he slipped into a chair opposite Felicity who jumped at the sudden surprise of his presence  
“Oliver, twice in one day” she coaxed a smile from her lips “to what do I owe the pleasure?”  
“I thought you said no to dinner”  
“We’re really going to do this?” she sighed, setting down her fork “Okay then” she paused, softly pushing out a long breath, tugging at the sleeve of her grey knit jersey

“I said no to dinner _with_ you. I am still a human, so I physically require food, ergo dinner” she pointed down to her food before clasping her hand together “what I don’t require is the awkward company of another person”  
“Wow, I’m hurt” Oliver smiled, a hand over his heart in jest  
“Look Oliver, I don’t really understand the prank here, but if it helps you can tell your friend whatever you need to, to win the bet you have going on”

She picked her fork back up and stabbed at her cos lettuce.  
“There is no bet”  
“So I’m just supposed to believe you’re here to genuinely chat?” she laughed cynically  
“Is that concept funny?”

“Oliver, people like you don’t interact with people like me. Maybe you’re on some weird girl with glasses fetish, but I assure you I’m not the one to delve into that with. Can I suggest you just get one of your models to wear glasses, a lot less trouble involved” she looked back down at her book, her finger moving word by word across the line

“Is there more?” she asked, holding her finger on a word as she glanced up  
“No, sorry to bother you Felicity”  
Oliver stood, pushing the chair back under the table before he walked away.

He could feel the twitching surfacing under his skin. _What the world saw in him._  
The façade was cracking.

He glimpsed Tommy, engrossed in conversation with a petite blonde and decided he didn’t need a repeat of last night. He turned on his heels and headed back towards his room.

* * *

 

  
**Day 3; George Town, Cayman Islands**

“I’m looking for Felicity, blonde hair, glasses” Tommy enquired of the ginger-haired guy he found in the office “do you know her?”

Martin looked up exasperated “Yeah, I know her, what do you want with my girl bruh?”  
“I swear to God Martin if you refer to me as your girl one more time I will stick a pen into your left ballsa-“ Felicity abruptly stopped her sentence as she appeared from around the doorframe of an adjoining office.

“Hi Felicity, we haven’t been properly introduced yet, I’m Tommy, Oliver’s friend” Tommy extended his hand which Felicity looked down at, folding her lips inward before she mirrored the gesture and swiftly shook his hand

“I’m aware of who you are, but I was just referring to you as dishevelled tux” she walked back into the adjoining office, Tommy taking the quick cue of her hand for him to follow  
“What can I do for you Tommy?”  
“Firstly, sorry about the desk thing, I wasn’t exactly sober, I don’t remember much”  
“Well I hope it was as memorable for your lady friend, what was her name?” Felicity asked, her head dropped to her shoulder and a brimming smile forming on her face  
“Ahhh, point to you” Tommy laughed, scratching the back of his neck  
“Well, as one of the VIPs , your trip down here was unnecessary, you don’t need to apologise” she shrugged  
“And I wanted to return this” he pulled the red pen out of his pocket and held it out to her  
“Keep it as a souvenir. Is that all?” Felicity thumbed her small drop earring  
“Okay, I’m also here about Oliver, I think you should give him a chance”  
Felicity nodded through a forced exhale.

“I see. Well I will take that into consideration” she replied, flashing her _for the passenger_ smile  
“Look, I can see you have preconceived ideas about guys like Oliver and myself”  
“Really I don’t give it much thought, what you do is your business”  
“Well those preconceived notions would be ninety-nine percent accurate in my case, I’m every bit the philandering playboy you would judge me as” Tommy smirked, sweeping his hand down his chest in jest  
“Swoon” she muttered  
“But Oliver isn’t like that”

“While I appreciate you coming all the way down here to tell me of your friend’s many virtues, it’s really not necessary. I don’t know you or Oliver, but I do know that in my adult life I have barely had a conversation with one such person of your calibre, let alone two in three days, so I’m going to just assume that this is the universe having a laugh. But I really need to get back to work”

“Look all I’m saying is you wouldn’t want people to assume you like Doctor Who just because you’re a geek” Tommy spoke, rolling a hand through his salt licked hair  
“I love Doctor Who” Felicity replied, a hurt expression peeking on her lips  
“Okay, well, you wouldn’t want people to just assume you’re a lesbian” Tommy retorted, pumping his fist like he won the lottery  
“And why would people assume that?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest  
“Because of the ponytail” Tommy shrugged, realising now the fault in his previous comment

“Because only lesbians wear their hair in a ponytail?” Felicity probed, her brow arching at the way Tommy was instantly anxious and so full of regret  
“And the glasses?” he stumbled  
“Keep digging”

“Look, my terrible first and second impression aside, all I’m saying is don’t judge Oliver based on what you think he is”  
Felicity folded her lips into a smile and nodded softly  
“Anyway, sorry about the desk, and the ponytail thing and everything that happened in between” Tommy cracked a smile, Felicity could help but mirror

“Alright, I will” he paused, rolling his head over his shoulder “Go this way”  
Felicity stifled a smile as she nodded and watched him leave.

Once she heard the click of the door into the hall closing she strolled around to the other side of the desk and sunk into the simple office chair.

Maybe she had judged Oliver unfairly, the same way people had judged her years before. He looked like a movie, there was absolutely no denying that chiseled jaw and those broad shoulders were sculptured for the sole purpose of making girls grow weak at the knees, but when he had showed up with that million dollar smile at the pool yesterday Felicity had branded him instantly with the _man about town_ label, assuming she was just to be another notch in his well-carved bed post.

Perhaps that had been unfair.  
She tapped through the system and in seconds typed a short message that she hoped she wouldn’t regret.

_I need to eat dinner again tonight. You could join me if you like ~ Felicity (the blonde with the glasses)_

Oliver saw the message pop up over his spreadsheet of figures he didn’t understand and he smiled as he typed out a reply.

_That’s a coincidence, I need to eat tonight also. 7pm work? ~ Oliver (the tall bumbling one)_

_7pm is acceptable, bumbling tall guy._

_I’ll take acceptable, blonde with glasses. Can I pick you up?_

_I’ll meet you by the staircase. I like Italian._

_Who doesn’t? See you then._


	3. The Flirt

He felt ridiculous, in fact he felt _more_ ridiculous than he had in years. The navy double breasted suit fit him perfectly – it ought to given it was tailor-made, his burnt-leather shoes were Italian made, purchased by whomever it was that bought his clothes now – _Darren? Damien? Duncan?_ The crisp white shirt was freshly pressed and his silk tie effortlessly matched the navy in his suit – just the right 2 shades lighter.

But still, he felt ridiculous.  
Maybe this was nerves?  
It had been years since he had felt those. Dates, even first ones, didn’t make him nervous. They were just business meetings with a high probability of being naked at the end of it and he could charm his way through a business meeting like a hot knife through butter.

It wasn’t the _date_ that was making him nervous – nervous to the point that he could feel the collar of the perfectly pressed shirt getting tighter around his neck – it was _who_ the date was with.

Felicity had originally shot him down ruthlessly – yet with a certain endearing charm. It was that unusual combination that made him nervous. He didn’t believe in soulmates, the idea of such was preposterous to him – that there are people _destined_ to be together only meant that people stopped trying to find better, or be better – it was a cop out, like it was _destiny’s_ fault if you didn’t get what you wanted out of life.

That aside, this nervous wait was the first time he had actually considered that maybe there was more to this _instant attraction_ that supposedly came hand and hand with the notion of soulmates. He had walked into her office and something just …. He was not going to say the word…. _clicked_.

“Oliver?”  
The sound of his name pulled him back to the present as he saw her stopped dead in front of him.

“Oh God, I’m really underdressed” Felicity groaned, looking down at the black stretch jeans and cream knit sweater she had thrown on right before leaving her cabin  
“No, you look nice and you came, so” he shrugged with a smile  
“You look like am Armani billboard, I look like the JC Penny mailout” she drew a finger across her brow, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other, balancing on the small heel of the simple black ankle boots

“I just thought we were…” she paused on her words, painfully aware that this was one of the more awkward starts to a date she had gone through “eating, I just thought we were eating, not, suit-wearing-dating”

“We are” Oliver grinned “this is my dinner-eating-suit”  
“I can go change” she said, glancing back the way she had arrived  
“Or I could just” Oliver unbuttoned the fine blended suit jacket and shrugged, the deep blue satin lining sending it effortlessly off his shoulders and down his arms

He handed her the jacket with a slightly raised brow. She took it with a smile and draped it over her arm.  
“And then lose this” he continued, loosening the knot in his tie just enough to slip that over his head and hung it over her arm, atop his jacket

He watched her, his lips slightly curved up at one corner, as he unfastened the cufflinks and slipped them into his pocket. He undid the button at his left wrist first, folding the cuff over on itself under he reached the spot on his forearm just below his elbow.

Without taking his eyes off her for more than a moment he repeated the same action on the right side.  
“And then just” he tugged at the white shirt, pulling the hem loose from inside his pants.

“Better?” he asked as he took the tie from her arm, folded it and placed it in the same pocket as his cuff links  
“Almost” she replied, her lightly stained pink lips folding up into a soft smile as he took the jacket from her arm and draped it over his own

Felicity stepped in closer, her eyes tracking Oliver’s for a response as her fingers lightly tracked the collar of his shirt, coming together in the middle over the small white button. She smoothed the button slowly through the hole and folded back the wing tips of the collar, smoothing her palms down his chest a little longer than she needed.

“Perfect” smile nodded, stepping back to admire her work  
“Are you sure, I can keep going?” he laughed, hovering his hands over the fly of his pants  
“I would like to see that” she smiled for a moment before she head the inference carried through her words “and by _that_ I mean you trying to get into a restaurant without pants on, not _that_ that” she pointed down towards he crotch

“Although I’m sure that is equally impres- you know what? I’m going to stop talking right about now and you’re going to pretend that this conversation finished about a minute ago, okay?”

The smile at the corner of Oliver’s lips grew across his face and reflected in his eyes as he nodded his agreement  
“Okay”

* * *

  
Felicity lay her palms on the crisp white linen table cloth, trying her best to hold in the overwhelming urge she had to sigh heavily. The maitre d' had welcomed Oliver by name, a service that was ship-wide to all who dealt directly with VIP passengers, in that they ought to know his name without him needing to speak it.

It didn’t take long for their drinks to arrive and their orders taken. Felicity had requested the strongest drink they had and had been given a Long Island Ice Tea, Oliver had order a simple whiskey neat and was presented with the same.

In yet another VIP perk their meals had skipped the queue the instant their ticket entered the kitchen and only 10 painfully-silent minutes later they were presented with their meals.

“I just realise that I don’t even know your last name” Oliver spoke, cutting the silence that hung awkwardly between them  
“Smoak” she replied, a hand curtaining across her mouth as she spoke “S-m-o-A-k, not like the billowing cloud resulting from a fire, so fair warning I’ve heard all those fire puns before, none of them are very good”  
“I appreciate the warning” he chuckled with a slight nod “I’m Oliver Queen”  
“I know”

Oliver’s heart sank a little, another person who _knew_ him.  
“The maitre d’ called you Mister Queen, and I needed to look you up on the ship manifest to get your room number to message you, so that’s why I know” she spoke categorically  
“So you didn’t google search me before this just-dinner dinner?”  
“I mean, maybe a little” she replied, rolling her lips over each other in a habit to disguise half-truth she was saying

The truth was she _had_ only google searched him a little, then she’d spent a little longer searching a little deeper than google supplied. Her curiosity often made her feel like a snoop, but just-dinner or otherwise, she needed to make sure of a few things.

One, that he wasn’t married – she wasn’t doing _that_ again.  
Two, that he wasn’t on the run from the law – it seemed improbable that a person running from the law would choose an easily traceable almost six month long cruise, but just in case.  
And finally, that he wasn’t in any way, shape or form connected to the reason she was working on an almost six month long cruise.  
“Find anything interesting?” Oliver asked, somewhat anxiously pushing a single ravioli around his plate  
“I mainly just stayed within the images section” she smiled in jest, her eyes blinking up for only a second

She had found a few red marks next to his name, a couple of traffic violations and a particularly interesting school history; and of course a multitude of click bait headlines from gossip rags that she chose to ignore, the validity of such publications almost always non-existent.

“That seems unfair”  
Felicity reached for her drink, breathing out a soft exhale through parted pink lips before she took a sip and gave him a little toying shrug.  
“You seem to know more about me, than I do about you”  
“There really isn’t much to know”  
“I doubt that”  
“Well you certainly won’t find any magazine spreads about how influential I am”  
“That’s a shame, you’d look good in a magazine” he was an inch shy of a wink

Felicity laughed as she screwed up her nose.  
“Does that ever work? That’s a terrible line”  
Oliver laughed, his head dropping slightly towards his shoulder as he gave a lax shrug  
“Oh, it does doesn’t it?” Felicity playfully rolled her eyes as she pointed her fork at him  
“Most of the time”  
“Argh, you need to start dating a better grade of woman”  
“What would you suggest?”  
“Someone who maybe reads above a fifth grade level” she winked as she took another sip of her drink “magazines don’t count” she added with an arched brow

“Anything else?” Oliver asked, feeling his shoulders relax around ease with which they spoke  
“Maybe someone with a hobby that isn’t shopping”  
“It’s starting to get a bit choosey”  
“Maybe pass on anyone that just has an Instagram account full of selfies, that’s generally a bad sign” she remarked still gesturing with her fork  
“Should I be writing this down?”  
“How about you just think about who your lines would normally work on and then like just, I don’t know” she folded her lips together into a playful pout “go for the exact opposite type of woman”

“Understood” Oliver nodded, taking a sip of the smooth-velvet whiskey  
He placed the glass back down on the table, running his thumb slowly through the condensation on the outside of it as he watched her for a moment, his gaze caught lingering on the way her mouth sat slightly open around the bow of her lips.

“So, what’s you’re reading level?” he asked, his eyes ready and waiting for hers as she blinked up at him  
“Above a fifth grade” she replied coyly, before slipping a tortellini into her mouth  
“Do you have any hobbies?” he asked sitting back in his chair, his fingers still toying with the droplets running across the grooves of the engraved glass

“Plenty” Felicity nodded, her eyes drawn to the way his fingers toyed with the glass  
“Any of those shopping?” he asked, leaning his body back towards the table, his eyes now flickered with a darker, slightly more intense blue shining in the white light of the table candle

“Not a one” she replied, trying to meet his gaze with an intense one of her own, but failing as she breathed out a laugh and blinked away

“That’s a great sweater by the way” Oliver said, pulling his hand back from the glass and sitting upright in the chair, breaking the stare he had with her

Felicity glanced down at the pearl details on the cream knit, she had never given it much thought, it was comfortable and it didn’t look like something from her mother’s closet, so that was a win in her books.

“Thank you” she replied, almost suspicious about his sudden change in demeanour  
“Honestly, I have one just like it that I almost wore” he smirked  
Felicity’s eyes narrowed as she fought back a smile “that I would like to see”  
“It looks better on you, but you know it would look even better on my bedroom fl-“  
“Don’t finish that sentence” she groaned

Oliver’s face cracked a smile as his eyes settled onto hers once more, intrigued by the way they danced as she spoke.  
“So you would say that pick up line didn’t work on you?” he asked, his teeth scraping over his bottom lip  
“No Mister Queen, not in the slightest” she replied, her voice softly travelling over the exhale she pushed through her lips  
“Good to know”

* * *

  
The air whipped through Felicity’s hair, catching the small wisps that framed her face as the two walked around the back decks of the liner away from the noise of the karaoke party that was being held on the Pool Deck at the front of the boat.

“So what brings you out here Oliver?”  
“I was just following you, I would have stayed and had soufflé but you insisted on the gelato to go” he remarked, stabbing the little plastic spoon into the raspberry and mango gelato in his little black paper cup

“You know what I’m asking Oliver” she replied, absently tapping the back of her hand against his arm  
“Just a holiday, a much needed one apparently” he sighed, stopping as he leant up against the maple wood and white steel railing “and you, what would make someone take a job that means you watch 400 people have fun while you work?”

“Just needed a job, and somewhere to live, this job ticked both boxes” Felicity shrugged, leaning her elbow up against the same railing  
“Where was home before the SS Verdant?”  
“Central City mostly, Vegas before that and some spots in between along the way”  
“And after all this is done?”  
“You know” she smiled, the bright white light of the full moon casting it’s reflection through her waving hair “I haven’t really given it much thought”

“What about you, back to Starling?” she asked licking the slowly melting lime gelato from her own plastic spoon  
“It’s where my life is set up” Oliver replied, his gaze drawn to the way her nails idly tapped out a pattern on the railing

Felicity felt his lingered gaze on her, the feeling of it against the background of the still night air was become more intense than she wished it to be. She could feel his hand gravitating towards hers and the gentle rock of the boat seemed to make his body inch closer to hers.

“So I should go” she said abruptly, pulling away from the railing  
“Is everything okay?” he asked, surprised by the suddenness of her declaration  
“Fine, I’m fine. I just have an early shift tomorrow, so I should go” she started to back away, aware though that to go the shortest route to her cabin she really needed to go past him

“Thank you for dinner, and this” she smiled awkwardly as she held the gelato cup up “and goodnight”  
He reached his hand out towards her and she snapped it up into her own and shook it vigorously as Oliver looked down perplexed at the action.  
“Okay, that was weird and probably not what you were intending to do, so once again I’m going to just ask that we forget the last few minutes of whatever this is” she dropped his hand, realising she was still shaking it

“Now, I’m going to say goodnight again, and we’ll just leave that there, so goodnight” she nodded through a heavily embarrassed sigh

Before Oliver could say anything she had cleared half the deck and was heading on the loop around the ship.  
“Goodnight” he breathed to the blank space she had left behind

* * *

  
**Day 4: Cruising the Caribbean Sea**

Felicity sat in the empty and eerily silent IT office, work set up on her screen, but her mind wandering a million miles away…or least of all back a few hours to the terribly executed end to the just-dinner-but-felt-like-a-date date with Oliver.

She was sure she had come across like a skittish crazy person and she highly doubted she would be getting any visits for the rest of the 124 days left. In her head she had decided this was probably for the best. She knew people like Oliver Queen and she was thoroughly not interested. Right! _Right_?

She caught herself thinking about the particularly pleasant form he had cut in that, no doubt expensive, suit last night. A suave epitome of everything Felicity should be avoiding right now. Men like Oliver were a distraction – a sinfully pleasurable distraction – but a distraction all the same.

A distraction was the last thing she needed; or wanted.

 _As a human, do you also require lunch?_  
The message popped up with a ding across her screen pulling Felicity from her day dream.

She read it twice before she noticed the name at the bottom of the message, it was tagged with Oliver’s name and room number.

She stared at the message with her fingers hovering over the keyboard as she tried to decide whether to ignore it or not.

_It’s the tall bumbling one who must have said something pretty stupid last night to the blonde with glasses._

_It was nothing that you, in all your tallness, did. Just an early start this morning_  
She typed out the reply and sulked down into her chair.

 _So…. Lunch?_  
_I’m sorry, I can’t, I’ll be eating at my desk today_  
She glanced down at the unappetising tuna fish sandwich and screwed up her nose, but it was the sacrifice she would have to make.

_No problem, I can work with that._

Felicity pulled her brow inwards, her head tipping to her shoulder as she tried to make sense of what he had written.

 _I don’t understand_?  
She replied.

She watched, expecting the three little bubbles to appear to signal that he was typing a message back, but there was nothing forthcoming.

She shook her head softly and clicked out of the message, returning to the fault logs she had been trawling through earlier.

It was less than 10 minutes later when there was a knock on the door. She looked up from her desk, a pen twisted up in her fingers.  
“Come in” she said to the closed door

It opened slowly and a porter walked in holder a tray. He looked down at a card on the tray and read from it “Felicity S-m-o-a-k?”  
“That’s me, but-“  
As the words left her mouth he placed the tray on her desk. He removed the lid and set about laying out the plates in a line on her desk, a beef slider and hand cut fries, a cranberry and chicken side salad and lastly a perfectly peeked chocolate souffle.

“I didn’t order this” she stated, her brows pinched inward  
“He said you would say that”  
“I, what?” she mumbled

“Oh, and this” the porter smiled pulling a black rectangle case from his pocket  
Felicity went to say something as he placed the box on her desk.  
“This isn’t mine” she spoke, running a hand through her loose blonde locks  
“He said you’d say that too, but I was to not take it back, under any circumstances”  
“Who?” she questioned with a quip  
“He said you would figure it out. Have a good day Miss”  
With a tip of his head he was gone, closing the door behind him and leaving half of Felicity’s desk covered in small plates of food.

Moments later she heard the familiar ding of a message received.  
_I recommend starting with the souffle, but it’s your lunch you decide_

She let an unguarded smile fall onto her lips as she shook her head gently.  
_And if I’m lactose intolerant?_  
_You ate pasta with cream sauce last night, I made a safe bet_  
_A vegetarian?_  
_Then you probably shouldn’t have had chicken tortellini_  
_A pesco pollo vegetarian?_  
_Avoid the burger, but the rest is good._  
_You shouldn’t have._  
_I wouldn’t want a human I’m fond of to miss lunch_

 _Oliver…_  
She typed and deleted.  
_Thank you._  
_You’re welcome_

She let the message sit there as she picked up the black box, once it was in her hands she realised the case was made of a fine soft leather. She opened it slowly to reveal, nestled in a black velvet mould was a simple red pen and a note _In replacement, it’s new, I promise ~ Oliver_

Her eyes tugged inward and her lips rolled into a soft, enamoured, pout.  
_Damn distraction._

* * *

  
It was almost 5pm when Felicity knocked on the white cabin door that sat perfectly flush with the wall, the gold plated numbers 1001 sitting proudly above the small peephole.

She found herself instantly regretting the decision to come here and contemplating how fast she could clear the hall and hide when the door opened to the strapping eye candy that was Oliver Queen.

He leaned against the door, not saying a word just smiling at her as he casually jostled a hand into the pocket of his dark jeans.

“Hmmmm, nope, never mind” she muttered as she started to turn away  
“Wait, Felicity, come in, please” he laughed, opening the door wide to her, his black and platinum Piaget watch tapping against the door.

Reluctantly she stepped into the suite. It struck her instantly that she was more than certain her old Central City flat could fit inside. She padded around the entrance her eyes dancing around the opulent touches in almost every corner of the room, from the plush couches to the slim line black bar, everything chosen to reflect the price ticket such a suite would have.

She walked towards the clear wrap-around windows, admiring the inspiring view granted for lingered moments before her eyes fell to the table top covered in paperwork.

“You have a strange way of being on holiday Oliver” she smiled, dancing her fingertips across the paper scattered over the table  
“Trying to find a trail that doesn’t exist” he shrugged, following her as she walked around the room  
“A trail always exists in here” she replied, tapping the edge of his laptop “You just need someone who knows how to find it”

When she turned around he was standing dangerously close, his eyes fixed on her in a way that made her nervous.  
“Please don’t look at me like that” she sighed, taking a step back  
“Like what?” he asked  
“With the eyes and the jaw and the brow” she spoke, gesturing to each part of his face that she mentioned  
“You’re just naming things on my face”  
“That smoulder, stop it”  
“Does it make you uncomfortable? Because honestly this is just my face” he casually laughed  
“It does make me uncomfortable, just your whole face does” she pouted  
“I can turn around”  
Before she had a chance to reply he had turned around, his back now facing her.  
“Better?” he asked, resisting the urge to glance back at her

Felicity let her eyes trail across his broad shoulders and down the centre of his back, stopping for a lingered glare at the way his dark wash jeans hung perfectly over his infallibly pert ass.  
Wow. She could taste the saliva forming in her mouth.

“Sure, that will do” she muttered, trying to sound nonchalant … _that will do just nicely_  
“So, I must ask, why the house call?” Oliver questioned, his back still towards her  
Felicity sighed, her arms smoothing down the sleeve of his black cotton tee as she turned him back to face her.

“This dance, it needs to stop. What are we even doing here?” she sighed  
“Here as in within this sexually charged moment?”  
“Yes, that _here_. Oliver whatever it is we have brewing here, it’s not going to work out very good”

“I would beg to differ”  
“Okay so we might go on a few more dates, you’ll probably get a little gropey and I’ll probably stick my tongue in your mouth, and sure, it will be nice” she huffed lightly  
“Just nice?” he stepped forward, closing the gap between them  
Felicity lay her hand in the centre of his chest, stopping his advancement.  
“Nice is good” she shrugged “And we’ll probably get to the third or fourth date where we both awkwardly wonder if the other one wants to have sex”

“I’m happy to cast my vote now if it helps” he breathed the words as he lightly pushed against her stopping hand  
“For the record, we’ll both say yes, so we’ll have sex. It’ll be a little overwhelming for me at first because of all of this” she waved a hand around his body “but the second time it will be great, maybe it will get a little adventurous”

“How adventurous?” he asked with a raised brow and a soft smirk  
“We’ll probably do it on the piano, maybe up against the window there and I’m almost certain I’ll ask to tie you up” she replied, catching her bottom lip between her teeth  
“And that will just be nice?”  
“Oh no, that will be amazing sex, the type that just lingers on your skin for days after”

Oliver’s eyes widened as he pushed against her outstretched arm once more, this time causing it to bend, letting him inch closer to her.  
“But then soon enough we’ll realise how mind blowing sex just isn’t enough and we have nothing in common” she sighed, slipping her tongue gently between her lips “we’ll argue about stupid things and you’ll become distant and I’ll become weird and nagging, until we have a screaming match about what stupid movie to watch and we break up”

Oliver went to open his mouth to speak, but before the words had formed she started up once again.  
“And then we will have to start avoiding each other, only it’s a boat and it’s not that big, so I’ll probably develop a vitamin D deficiency on account of staying in my cabin or office the rest of the trip and we’ll probably awkwardly run into each other at least twice, maybe get a little drunk and sexual in public, but honestly it will be a mistake”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought” Oliver remarked  
“Analytical mind” she smiled tapping her temple  
“So we should just stop here, before any of that makes this experience miserable for either of us” she tapped his chest as she turned around to leave.

She took two steps towards the door before she turned back around, kicking her shoe across the gold-flecked marbled floor.  
“If you haven’t hooked some gorgeous model by day 120, let me know, maybe we can just have a little of the part before the inevitable realisation that we’re incompatible comes”

“For the record, I disagree on most of what you said, except the sex, I guarantee that would be phenomenal”  
“Well that’s a given” she laughed, playfully tossing her hair in jest  
“As for the rest, I’ll just have to show you that you’re looking at this” he stepped closer, his body now inches from hers “all wrong” he whispered just above her ear

She felt her body tense under the sexual weight of his warm breath against her flushed cheek. Her feet were anchored to the floor, her eyes blinking rapidly as his lips drew closer to her own. Instinctively her lips parted and her tongue swiped over her parched bottom lip.

She swallowed down the hitch in her throat as he moved a hair’s breath away from her lips.

A fast bang on the window yanked Felicity from her trance as pulled them swiftly apart. Oliver snapped his head towards the window to see a very apologetic Tommy grimacing through a shrug.

Oliver turned back to say something to Felicity but she had silently slipped out the front door and left.

 

 


	4. The Test

**Day 6: Transit the Panama Canal**

Felicity greeted the new day with renewed optimism as she sat down at the help desk, her turn to take on the tiresome troubles of people unable to connect their devices to enable them to probably google search something highly inappropriate, or send away work emails that had them tearing their hair out at the follicles.

She had always wondered the type of person who would take such a ludicrously expensive trip only to fill it with the things that most people took a holiday to get away from. The thinking on that caused her mind to wander back to Oliver and despite her best efforts she knew it would linger there a little longer.

It was tantalisingly sinful the way his brow did that thing where it raised less than a quarter inch, but enough to completely blow the blue of his eyes straight into his intended target. That, coupled with that amazingly sensual way his lips parted just a fraction after he finished a sentence. Utterly…completely….wholly…. _distracting_.

She shook her head somewhat violently in hopes such a manoeuvre would remove the impure thoughts about Oliver’s mouth that were circulating through her mind. It was failing to work until the loud digging of a new message buzzing through her headset finally did the trick.

 _Are you avoiding me?_  
It was Oliver.  
_No._  
_No?_  
_No._  
_Wait, is this that song?_  
_No._  
_My name is...no...my number is no...._  
_I have no idea what you’re talking about Oliver_  
_Come out with me, they have karaoke here._  
_No._  
_See you already know the words._  
_I’m working._  
_So I am._

Felicity smiled as she read the last few messages – it seemed he wasn’t going to take the hint and maybe she was just a little bit okay with that. She chastised herself under a mumbled breath – she wasn’t here to be wooed by anyone, even the ridiculously handsome Oliver Queen.

 _We had fun didn’t we?_ His messaged popped up  
_Well I can’t speak for you, but yes, I had a nice time_  
_I’m asking you out again, so it goes without saying that I had a nice time_  
_I’m sorry Oliver, I’m just not interested_  
She typed the words and sat back with a heavy sigh. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but she did know she wasn’t looking for what Oliver was offering.

**~*~*~*~**

Oliver took a sip from the beaded glass of his chilled iced tea as he sat back in the dining room chair. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed that Felicity had turned him down – he was new to this side of the coin and it wasn’t exactly enjoyable.

 _Ollie_ Queen had a type, leggy, attractive, agreeable to his whims and happy to drape off his arm for a few moments before they were replaced with another – but they were also dim, flaky, self-centred and with virtually no intelligent thought to share.

 _Oliver_ Queen wanted something more.  
He wanted something he saw in Felicity – she wasn’t intimidated by him, she was smart, funny, honest and she didn’t pander to him – she was everything that made him excited and she was completely not interested – that should have made him get the hint and move on, but Oliver relished a challenge, maybe a little too much.

 _No need to be sorry but I’m not sure I believe you_ he typed back  
_And why is that?_ came her response  
_I'll tell you another time_  
_Are you just trying to get me to go out with you again?_  
_Is it working?_  
_No….._  
_…..?_  
_What do you expect me to say?_  
_Just say you’ll think about it_  
_Think about what?_  
_Giving me a chance to show you that I’m not the type of guy you think I am_

**~*~*~*~**

She poised over the keys and contemplated banging her head on the desk in hopes the action would cause her to stop having wanton thoughts about the man she knew was not what she needed right now.

Before she could even register her objection, her hands had already taken over the task of replying with a _I’ll think about it_

 _I’ll take it_ he responded _are you busy tonight?_  
_I am_ she paused, tapping the keys in though before she added _I’m working_

It wasn’t entirely true – her shift finished at 7pm, but she had a bed and a book calling her name and if she was being truthful she needed a little more time to strengthen her resolve that she would not – repeated, would not – fall into bed with Oliver Queen five days in.

 _Another time then?_ his response came  
_I’ll think about it_  
_Deal_  

* * *

 

It was a few hours later, nearing on 7pm when Oliver stepped up from the chair, running a cupped hand across the back of his neck. He sighed heavily as he felt the inching pain travelling up his spine. He had spent much longer than he had intended to on work that he used merely as a distraction.

Tommy had dragged him for a work out at the gym, which had burned countless calories and near on 2 hours. He had casually spent another hour in the infinity pool on his private deck, trying his hand at relaxing until the idleness of it all had become too much and he had returned to his desk to fixate his mind on something.

Oliver felt his chest begin to constrict, pulling tighter with every breath he took. He knew it was the guilt pulling at him, he had live with that demon long enough to know when it needed to make its presence known. He found himself tugging at the skin across his wrist, eager to grab back some of the control.

She was gone because of him.  
The sounds filling his head, the screams, the sirens the clambered voices telling him to leave, there was nothing to be done. His palms pushed deep into his temples trying to stem the constant assault on his senses.

He strode over to the bedroom, yanking back the drawer to the extent it came out complete in his hands, spilling its contents across the floor.  
“Shit” he stammered, dropping to his knees in search of something to take the noise away

It was like a migraine now, pounding at his head like a hammer and invading his eyesight. He found the small pill canister and fumbled with the lid for a few moments before he managed to steady his hand and release the cap.

He took two out and swallowed them down dry as he sat, pressed up against the side of the bed, his legs tucked in, just waiting for them to kick in, clutching the Valium bottle tightly in his fist.

* * *

  
Felicity closed the door to her private bedroom in the cabin she shared with four other crew. She had been just senior enough to score the bedroom that wasn’t bunk beds, probably due to the fact this was not her first cruise with the company – albeit it was her first time being away so long.

She slipped out of her shoes and placed them under the bed with her others as she slumped down onto her bed. She contemplated pulling herself out of the bed to get changed into something more comfortable than the billowing silk blouse and black pencil skirt she was wearing, but it seemed like much more effort than she was willing to put in just yet. She grabbed the book from her nightstand and opened it, desperate for a distraction.

It was short lived though as she tapped on the spine of the book and tried to decide whether or not to check back with the real world. She had left without much of a goodbye, thinking it would all be better that way.

She had told her mother only moments before embarking and had hung up on her weeping down the phone – not her finest moment, but the two had always had an interesting relationship – Felicity deciding to leave for near on six months to work aboard a luxury cruise ship without much of a warning surprisingly wasn’t the most harrowing event their relationship had so far endured.

Still, Felicity knew she owed her mother a little bit more.

She leaned over to the table collecting up her tablet before sinking back into her pillow. She would clear her inbox of the spam she had likely accumulated, skim over Instagram pictures of cats that looked like cartoon characters and then video chat her mother just to assure her that all was well, then hit the shower, pour her tired body into her PJs and read until her eyes lulled closed, it was the mother of all plans.

She skimmed over the emails that filled her inbox, ticking each sequential one, marking them for deletion when her finger hovered over one, the sender a name she knew well. She should have ignored it, left it for another day, but curiosity got the better of her and she opened it.

Her eyes dragged over each word in the email once, then twice as her face began to twist over it. It was on the third read that the contents finally sunk in.  
“Mother fucker” she hissed, throwing the tablet to the end of her bed and sitting bolt upright  
She needed a drink.  
She needed a strong drink. 

* * *

 

It was 30 minutes until he felt his anxiety dropping and his heart rate pulling back down. The noises had dulled and his hands were steady. He cleared up the spilled contents of the drawer and gently eased the drawer back into its tracks before he heard the knock on his front door.

Oliver picked himself up of the floor, smoothing down the legs of his jeans as he walked over to the front door and pulled it open.  
“I can’t believe you actually told them to lock at gate, I’m cut deep man” Tommy grinned as he slinked past Oliver and into the suite without waiting for an invitation  
“I said I was sorry about the other day, I didn’t even see her there until you moved, it was not a deliberate cock block” he continued, peering around the room

“She’s not here now right? I’m not interrupting again?” he asked in a hushed tone  
“She’s not, I probably wouldn’t have answered the door if she was” Oliver replied, closing the door with a flick of his hand

“Good point” Tommy exclaimed, shaking a soft finger at Oliver in approval “So, get changed, we’re going out”  
“I’m not really in the mood tonight Tommy” Oliver replied, wiping a finger idly across her eyelid  
“Not taking no for an answer, bar, drinks, casino, pull some ladies” Tommy smiled, raising a brow  
“I’m not interested in pulling some ladies”  
“I was talking about me”  
“Then why do you need me?” Oliver shrugged  
“I can’t be the weird sad guy drinking alone in a bar” Tommy replied, bobbing his head along to his own words  
“Fine” Oliver sighed, perhaps he could use the distraction “give me 10 minutes to change”

He disappeared into the bedroom, closing the sheen-finished white door behind him. While the Valium had taken the edge off his swelling and crippling anxiety, the itching under his skin told him he needed something more – something stronger.

He took a second bottle out from the drawer, it was unmarked but he didn’t need a label to tell him what it was, it was an _old friend_ he’d been living with for years.

Oliver tapped the bottle on his open palm, watching intently as two olive green pills stamped with an _OC_ on one side and _80_ on the other, toppled out. He touched them to his lips, desperate for some resolve to magically appear and remind him that they only masked the pain, but – like all the moments before this one – that resolve never came.

He slipped them into his mouth and skulled back the rest of the water bottle on his nightstand before 3-pointing it into the rubbish bin a few feet away.

The Oxy would kick in soon enough, it was a temporary escape, but an escape all the same.

* * *

  
**Casino, 8:45pm**

It was almost 9pm when Tommy and Oliver walked into the casino, Tommy having already convinced one particularly leggy bar goer from their previous stop to accompany them.

Oliver’s head felt clear, his body relaxed. It was the up he had been looking for and desperately needed – even though he knew the down it would later carry. He had spent years perfecting just the right amount of cover that not even those close to him knew of his reliance on a raft of drugs, prescribed and otherwise.

He skated the fine line between controlled and loose. He maintained enough control to choose his words, hold a conversation, pick up girls, meet dignitaries and make business deals that saw QC dominate in its field, and he was just loose enough to do all of that with a confident ease that he would not possess otherwise. He knew soon enough he would delve deeper into that lulled sense of wanton abandonment as the slow release took hold.

His eye drew over the crowd of people and the bright lights that flashed around him until his eyes landed on the profile of a familiar blonde with tousled locks, two-tone glasses and a positively mesmerising ass, the curve of which was on full display in her tight black skirt.

“So you work as a bar seat warmer at the casino too?” Oliver asked with a smile as he slid onto the stool next to her and ordered a drink

Her head rolled slightly as she turned to face him, her lips grazing over the glass she held tightly in her hands.  
“Oh, it’s you” she huffed, her forced breath blowing stay hair back from her face  
“It’s nice to see you too” he laughed “not at work”

“I was lying” she moaned, placing the glass on the bar top as she licked her lips ritualistically “Clearly” she finished with a tip back of her head

“You were?” he laughed, placing his elbow onto the bar as he watched her nurse her drink with slow, drawn sips  
“Although technically, I wasn’t lying I was working into the evening, just not the whole evening” she spoke, tapping a finger on the black granite bar

“Are you drunk Miss Smoak?”  
“Who says I’m a Miss?”  
“You’re married?”  
She starred at him with intense blue eyes, her lips pouted open, before they folded up into a smushed frown  
“I don’t believe in marriage. Two people, trying to trust each other like that, it’s not possible” she announced shaking her head before dropping her forehead lightly onto her arm that sat atop the bar.

“So you are drunk” he smiled picking up her almost empty glass and sniffing the contents of it “on vodka” he coughed, the distinct aroma filling his senses  
“Apple vodka to be precise” she slurred, running a hand across her scalp to nestle into her hair at the crown

“You” she whispered, turning in the chair to face him, a finger wagging in his direction “are too sexy and you need to stop this”  
“Stop what?”  
“Stop trying to make me fall for you, it’s ludri-ludia-luder..”  
“Ludicrous?”  
“Yes, that word” she announced, her head snapping up off her arm as her hands clapped together

“So you, with your very pretty eyes, you need to stop it, okay?” she sighed, tapping her fingertips across his jawline “That is smoother than I thought it would be” she hummed

“Felicity?”  
“Mmmhmm?” she hummed, her lips pulled tightly around her straw as her head bobbed along to the music playing  
“Why are you here, alone, drinking apple vodka?”  
“Because I can, do I need a reason?” she smirked, swaying slightly on her stool as she finished her drink and held the empty glass up to the bartender  
“You’re ordering another?”  
She smiled at the bartender who took her empty glass and put a full one in its place  
“My friend here, he set up a tab for me, so I can just keep going, it’s a wonderful thing”  
“Don’t you think maybe you’ve had enough?” Oliver asked, watching as her eyelids grew heavy enough for her to close them

“Are you my dad Oliver? I mean you could be in that I don’t remember much about him _at all_ but I suppose the math doesn’t quite work out now does it?”  
“No Felicity, I’m not your dad, just a friend”  
“Dad” she laughed, repeating the word to herself “Daddy Oliver”

“Do you like girls to call you Daddy Oliver? I’ve never understood that kink myself, but I bet you could get a girl to do almost anything you asked” her voice trailed off into a whisper as she walked her fingertips up his dark grey pants

“I thought you weren’t interested” he breathed, trying to maintain his composure as her hand slide between his thighs, brushing over the tip of his sheathed cock

She smiled as she gestured with a slow moving wave of her hand for him to come closer. Oliver leaned his head forward, his hand resting on hers to stop the slow caress she was skimming against the outline of his growing erection.

“I lied about that too” she whispered into his ear, her hot breath tantalisingly sticky against his cheek  
Pulling back she placed a grazed kiss against his upper jaw line, humming a breathy sigh against his skin as her eyes watched him tense at her touch.  
“You have really pretty eyes Oliver” she smiled, pulling back from the interaction before shifting in her seat and returning her to drink

Oliver heaved a sigh of relief that her hand was no longer heaping light strokes against his upper thigh as he doubted he could withstand much more of it without running the risk of wanting to fuck her right there on that barstool.

“Do you believe in marriage Oliver?” she asked, stirring the black straw through her drink  
“Honestly, I don’t know” he replied, sipping back on his own drink  
“It probably works for some people” he added, the crisp, velvet whiskey sliding down his throat  
“But not for people like us” Felicity muttered into her glass before sculling down the last of her drink and sliding it to the opposite edge of the bar

“Tab me out barkeep” she smiled, drumming her own tune into the black granite  
“Put all this on my room” Oliver offered  
“Not a problem Mr Queen” the bartender replied, ferrying away the empty glasses  
“Everybody knows who you are Mr Queen” Felicity smiled, tugging on the collar of Oliver’s brown leather jacket  
“I wouldn’t say that” he replied with a shallow smile  
“I bet you have secrets behind those eyes” she huffed as she stumbled off the chair “those stupidly pretty eyes”

“Let me walk you to your cabin” Oliver spoke, steadying her with the crook of his elbow  
“Fucking chivalrous too” she laughed, stumbling in her barely 3 inch heels

Oliver did a quick scan of the nearby area in search of Tommy as he stood from his chair, but not a single head looked familiar.

“Do you know where your cabin is?” Oliver asked as Felicity leant against him and yawned  
“No idea, like that way?” she pointed towards the stern of the boat  
“I don’t think it’s that way” Oliver smiled as he walked with her out of the casino entrance,

“You have really pretty eyes, I bet girls tell you that a lot don’t they?” she smiled pushing a forefinger into his cheek  
“Funny, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that tonight” he laughed, stopping them at the elevator  
“Won’t be the last”  
“Probably not, but you need to tell me where you live Felicity”  
She kicked her feet from her strappy shoes and bent down to pick them up, stumbling as she suddenly felt the weight of gravity pushing against her back.

Oliver’s arm swooped around her waist, helping her back up, her shoes now dangling from her wrist.  
“I can’t go back to my cabin” she pouted, smacking her lips softly together  
“And why is that?” Oliver asked, adjusting his arm around her waist to get a better grip as she gestured her shoes wildly  
“There are other people there, they can’t see me like this, it’s really not” she smiled, forgetting the rest of the sentence  
“A good look” she added with a sigh  
“Because” she yawned “I’m the logical, smart one, I don’t do this” she threw her hand back towards the bar

“Alright, smart and logical one, we’ll get some coffee into you and sober you right up before I take you home” Oliver smiled down at her folded into his arms, standing – without shoes on – a good few feet shorter than him

He leaned in and pressed the ‘up’ button on the elevator, enjoying the warmth of her body snuggled against his.

“Oliver?”  
“Yes?”  
“Why me? Your penis, I’m using the medical term for it because I’m smart, it could probably stick itself in a multitude of different woman aboard this ship, why are you trying to stick your penis in me?” she asked, more loudly than she had intended, at the same time as an elderly couple emerged from the casino

Oliver smiled politely as the older woman shot him a filthy look, her husband offering just the slightest of grins over his shoulder as they walked away.

“It wasn’t about sticking anything, anywhere” he replied as he pushed the elevator button a second time, hoping it would somehow spur it to move quicker

“You don’t want to stick it in me? Well that’s fucking disappointing” she sighed loudly as the door opened and a handful of strangers mulled out of the elevator in front of them

Oliver received two more puzzled looks as he guided Felicity into the elevator and pushed his floor number. When the doors closed he exhaled a sigh of relief that no one else had come into the elevator car.

“I very much want to do that, but that’s not why you caught my eye and my attention” he smiled as the sweet scent of her hair wafted up towards his nose

“So, what was it then?” she asked, hopping from one foot to the other as she leaned deeper into his arm  
“You’re different” Oliver replied as the elevator doors opened onto his floor

“Different because I’m not a sexy model with legs that defy natural proportions” she quipped “different because I’m not that beautiful girl” her words rung with a hint of sadness

“No” Oliver smiled, swiping his card through the lock of his suite door “different because you are more than that”

He walked her inside and over to one of the armchairs.  
“I’ll make you a coffee” he smiled as he watched her sink into the plush armchair

Felicity watched as Oliver shrugged the leather jacket from his shoulders as draped it over one of the dining chairs, she felt her tongue swiping slowly across her lip as she zoned in on the lines cut in his classic black tee.

She dropped her heels from her hand and padded in a shaky line towards him, her tippy toes cooling against the opulent black and cream tiles. She hummed softly as a single fingertip lightly traced across his shoulder blade and down his spine.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his words sitting atop a breathy exhale, his body lulling into the trance just her fingertip was pulling him into  
“Something we both want” she whispered, pressing her body to his back as her hands tunnelled under his tee, walking – skin against skin – around to his belt buckle

Oliver caught her hands in his, stilling her fingers as they loosened his belt. He found his breath hitched in the back of his throat as he dipped his eyes to the lucid sensation of her hot breath against his shoulder blade.

The opiate was coursing through him now, passing him over into the uninhibited state he had been chasing when he had slipped the tiny addiction into his mouth. He struggled to pull himself back, holding tightly on to the unravelling control he still had.

“We, I, cant” he grunted, turning in her arms  
“Yes we can” she replied, her eyes blinking up at him as her teeth snagged against her pouted bottom lip  
“You’re drunk...”  
“I’m uninhibited” she interjected tracing back across his waist, her fingertips like hot electricity against his chest  
“And I’m...” he looked down at her as her petite body swayed slightly on the balls of her feet and felt a sudden pang of shame  
“You’re what Oh-li-ver?” she breathed, her words barely audible, her lips dancing out his name slowly  
_Buzzed on Oxy_  
“Not going to take advantage of you” he answered  
“What if I want to be taken advantage of?”  
Felicity stepped back, her fingertips falling away from his sweltering chest. She watched his eyes lingering on her, the three too many drinks stealing whatever inhibitions she would have once had as she trickled her fingers down the front placket of her dusty pink satin blouse, skimming over each button slowly before easing the hem out from her high-waisted pencil skirt.

She studied how his body steadied itself against the glass table, his eyes focused on every subtle move she made. She folded her lips into a smile, arching her brow as she undid one pearl button at a time.

He found his breath deepening, a growl of desire coming up low from his chest as he tried, without success, to avert his eyes.  
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she whispered as she dropped the blouse from her shoulders, the fabric billowing in slow motion to the ground

He was frozen in place as she stepped towards him, walking on the tips of her feet, her head slightly dropped to her shoulder as her eyes ran through his.  
“You can tell me if I’m wrong” she breathed, lightly touching her lips to his  
“You can tell me if you want me to stop” she pressed the words to his lips, sucking in against his bottom lip as her fingers tugged gently on the short hairs at the base of his head

Oliver’s hands smoothed down the silken skin of her waist, his thumbs folding under the waistband of her skirt as his lips snatched up her top lip, feverishly sucking it between his lips, his tongue dancing lightly over the dip of her cupid’s bow.

“Felicity, you don’t want to do this” he moaned into her mouth, enjoying the sudden swipe of her tongue into his mouth  
“Let’s just pretend this is day one-twenty” her fingers laced around the back of his neck as her body lifted higher, pressed against his own, chasing the depth of his warm, inviting mouth

Her hands split apart, running the course of his shoulders and down his arms as her hips played coyly against his throbbing erection, gently moving circles against his tented pants. His eyes drew closed as the urges filled his bloodstream, each slow grind her body made against him like fuel to the fire.

He nipped at her lip as she pulled away, growling a low, desperate, hum of disapproval.  
He watched her breasts rising and falling in the cream lace-trimmed bra that sat flush against her porcelain skin as her hands loosened his belt and started on the fly of his pants.

“So, where to now?” she smiled, slipping her hand down his pants, her fingers trailing through the hair to settle at the base of his cock, her palm firm against his sweltering naval as her body swayed from the effects of the alcohol she had consumed.

_Where to now?_

 


	5. The Rules

**Day 7: Golfito, Costa Rica**

Felicity’s head felt like a jackhammer had started work on it. The continued thumping in her ears combined with the pounding feeling behind her eyes gave her a pretty clear indication that she had consumed far too much the night before.

Cracking her left eye open she patted the side of the bed assuming she would find her glasses on the bedside table next to her small single bed in her cosy little bedroom, but all her hand found was more bed.

She stretched out her hand, fumbling blinding in the bright and intrusive beams of the morning light.  
_More bed. A lot more bed._  
_Nice bed._  
_Soft luxurious linen._

_This was not her bed._

She sat instantly upward, regretting it the moment her stomach caught up and her body retched at the movement. She managed to stem the sudden urge to hurl with a quick hand to the mouth and four small breaths.

Once the moment had past and her eyes slowly began to adjust to the light filtering through the darkened windows she absolutely and categorically knew she was not in her bedroom. She squeezed her eyes closed, then slowly opened them half expecting to see another person in the spacious bed.

Felicity vocally sighed when she found the other side of the bed empty. That relief was quickly replaced by an overwhelming sense that she was naked. She pulled back the blankets just enough to look down the tent she had made.

“Underwear, I guess at least I’m still wearing that” she muttered to herself before the terrifying reality that she had absolutely no recollection of the night before came barrelling down on her.

She looked around the room. It was fancy – actually it was _beyond_ fancy. The door was closed and there were no personal effects nearby that gave any indication where she was.  
“What do you expect, a family portrait?” she sighed to herself, aware – at least – that they were on a boat and most people didn’t carry a crap load of personal effects on a boat, unless they were retired and it was pictures of their dead wife, or grandkids.

“Oh my god, grandkids” she shuddered at the thought that she may have stumbled into the room of some old retired rich guy with a dead wife and five grandchildren.

She looked across at the bedside table and again vocally sighed where she saw no homage to a dead wife and no old man jewellery in a brass dish.

“Clothes” she nodded to herself. She needed clothes – that would be a good start.  
Expecting to see a trail of them she leaned over the side of the bed, holding the million-something-count bedsheet tightly across her chest.

She found nothing but her shoes orderly placed up beside the bed. She didn’t even put her shoes that neatly sober, she doubted she would have done it drunk off her face.

“Not a grieving widower with possible cleanliness OCD tendencies” she spoke to herself, making the mental notes in her brain

She found her glasses folded neatly on the white oak bedside and eased them onto her still-pounding head. They instantly felt tight across her temples, but she needed them so there was nothing more to be said about it.

“Clothes, clothes, clothes” she chanted quietly, secretly hoping that would make them somehow visible.

No such luck.  
There was nothing on the floor.  
Absolutely nothing.

“Make that definite cleanliness OCD. So you little clean freak, where have to squirrelled my clothes away to?” she folded her lips over each other, aware now she needed to actually leave the confines of this bed

She tugged on the bedsheet as her feet hit the plush carpeted ground. Rolling her tongue across her teeth she felt the definite fuzz across them and the dry cotton mouth that came hand in hand with probably throwing up like a newly-minted 21 year old in Cabo.

She huffed at her own stupidity before she recounted what had sent her to the casino bar and just like that her annoyance at her messy self was replaced by a sudden urge to ring her hands across someone’s scrawny little neck – but that would have to wait. She needed clothes. She needed to escape this very expensive room and a very poor decision made and hope like hell Mr Clean didn’t notice.

“Clothes” she sighed once again reminding herself of the first and foremost as she wrapped the sheet firmly around her, resembling a fine linen toga, a fateful reminder of that one time in college…

 _Nope_  
She was not touching that with a barge pole.

Felicity padded on tiptoes around the room – unsure why she felt the need to do such, but doing it regardless.

She made her way over to the dresser, dancing her fingertips over the neatly arranged, opened, jewellery box.

“Who needs three watches?” she asked as she duly noted they seemed arranged in size order. Next to them, cufflinks – seven pairs.  
She had a sudden and overwhelming desire to switch a few of them around so the pairs were no longer next to each other, but the moment passed her when she fully realised that Mr Clean had taken _seven_ pairs of cufflinks – on a cruise.

“Clean and probably a little over-worked” she added to her list  
There were three tie pins, a platinum thick chain-link bracelet and a much smaller link necklace. Everything in the neatly arranged box seemed modern, young but not too young.

Her eyes fell to the top drawer of the dresser and she had a sudden urge to rummage – rummage like a crazy housemaid who was probably being watched on CCTV.

Before she could convince herself what a terrible idea that was she had already opened the drawer. It was frightfully neat.

Felicity wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a messy person, but the extreme organisation of this top drawer made her clothes look like they were folded by a three-year old and then literally thrown into the drawer.

The socks, either grey, black or white, were neatly folded together down one end. The Calvin Klein (and other designer branded) briefs were box folded and bunched in colour/tonal groups. Singlets were neatly folded and grouped at the back, black next to white. It was insanely – but impressively – neat. Not a holey, ripped, stained or faded item in there.

“Clothes” she pipped, once again forgetting the desperate need she had to find hers  
She bent over, trying to look under the dresser, imagining that Mr Clean McFancyBriefs might have toed her discarded clothes under there.

The toga sheet provided little movement, she needed to inspect under the dresser closer. Hiking the draped sheet up her legs she held it in a bundle as she sunk down onto her knees. She leant down, her cheek pressed against the soft carpet and her barely covered ass pointed directly to the ceiling as her eyes scoured that empty space under the dresser.

 _Nothing_.

“Well that’s an interesting view” a distinctly male voice piped up behind her  
“Oh my god” she snapped, bouncing to her feet, dropping the bundled sheet with such movement the whole thing tumbled to a heap at her feet  
“Shit, fuck, shit” she cursed, fumbling to pick it up.

Only once the sheet was pressed against the front of her body did she have a moment to study the man that was standing in front of her.

“You? You’re Mr Clean McFancyBriefs?” she stammered, staring wide-eyed at a damp chested Oliver in swimming trunks as he patted a white towel against his neck  
“I’m who now?” he laughed, running the towel briefly across his cropped hair

“This is your room?” she asked, trying to keep her eyes from studying the droplets of water pooling in his slight innie  
“You don’t remember last night at all do you?”  
“Um” she squinted her eyes and rolled her lips “no, not at all, which isn’t supposed to be a reflection of you, so nothing personal slugger” she quipped, instantly realising she sounded like a father talking to a child  
“Slugger?”  
“You prefer sport?”  
“Oliver is fine”  
“Fair call” she rocked on the balls of her feet, this was awkward in every sense  
“So _Oliver_ if I could just get my clothes we can put an end to this hideously awkward” she danced her fingers over the word “awkwardness”

“I don’t feel awkward” he shrugged, padding over to the drawers beside her  
“Clothes. Please” she huffed, turning her body ensuring he didn’t get a look of the very exposed back of her body, no longer sheathed behind a crisp white sheet toga

“In the bag, on the chair” he smiled, opening the top drawer but tipping his head towards the armchair where a white laminate bag stood

She side stepped Oliver and walked backwards towards the chair, adjusting the pooled sheet as she went.

Felicity used one hand to pry the bag open, the other arm firmly pressed the sheet to her chest. The indigo wash jeans and floaty red top were most definitely not her clothes and she didn’t need the price tags to tell her that.

“These aren’t mine”  
“Well they’re not mine” he laughed  
“Oliver, _please_ let this misery end. Where are _my_ clothes?”  
“Those are yours, although not the ones you were wearing last night. Those clothes are being laundered, along with mine”  
“I, my, what? Speak slow” she tapped a finger to her pounding head  
“You threw up on your clothes and mine” he couldn’t stem the grin on his lips

Felicity covered her eyes with her hand and groaned.  
“I threw up on you?”  
“ _Over_ me, while you were _on_ me might be a better description” his smile carried through each word

“I was _on_ you?” Felicity squirmed  
“You wanted to know if I could carry you” he winked as he grabbed fresh clothes from his drawers “for the record I could”

He closed the drawers and, fresh clothes in hand, walked towards Felicity. She turned, backing her almost-naked back half firmly against the bedroom door.

“It was probably the topless spinning that made you throw up” he grinned before closing the bathroom door behind him  
“I’m sorry, the what now?” she called to the back of the door

The bathroom door flung open and Oliver stepped out, now dressed in brown walk shorts sans any shirt still.  
“Maybe it was a twirl, I’m not sure what the difference is” he twisted his finger in a swirling motion with a cracked smile

“Okay, well I’m officially mortified and I’m just going to leave” she replied, fumbling for the door handle behind her back “and how the hell did you change so quickly?”  
“As much as I would enjoy seeing you walk through four decks dressed only in a sheet, that may just add to the mortification. Have a shower” he took a step towards her, folding a finger through her knotted hair “get dressed and there is breakfast and coffee on the table”

His hand reached towards her back, lightly palming over the draping sheet. Felicity slapped his hand in protest.  
“Felicity” he breathed her name like a song “you’re standing in front of the door”

“I knew that” she retorted with a raised brow as she side stepped the door  
“Everything you need should be in the bathroom, or the bag” he opened the door, stepping into the living area “or you can wear a pair of my, what were they? Fancy briefs?” he smiled pulling the door shut.

* * *

  
“You bought me lingerie? Do you have any idea how creepy that is?” Felicity snipped as she walked from the bedroom, towelling her damp hair, dressed – somewhat reluctantly – in the clothes that Oliver had bought

 _“You don’t have much of a choice”_ she had rallied herself; and if she was going to be honest about it, the jeans fit like a glove at the top felt like silk against her skin.

“Women don’t like that?” Oliver asked, looking up from the bowl of toasted muesli, now fully clothed, his fine physique covered in a green hoodie  
“No, no women don’t like that” Felicity huffed, automatically picking up the freshly poured coffee Oliver had waiting for her

“I’m sure Richard Gere bought some for Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman” Oliver returned, lightly dancing his spoon in the air at her  
“She was a prostitute in that movie, you don’t see the difference here?” Felicity sunk down into the chair and picked at the grapes on the platter in front of her

“So prostitute okay, any other guest not okay?”  
“General rule of thumb” she snarked jokingly as she raised an eyebrow  
“Honestly I just told the store clerk I needed an entire outfit for the drunk girl in my bed, I guess she figured that meant lingerie too” he smiled, a light swish of his tongue across his bottom lip instinctively followed

“But it’s no problem, I’ll just have them returned” he added returning to his late breakfast  
“Oh, well, you can’t” she shrugged, blowing a soft breath over the rim of the white coffee cup  
“Because?”  
“I’m wearing them of course, it’s a very nice set”  
“I thought you said you didn’t like them”  
“No, I said it was creepy. Point of difference”  
“Well then, you’re welcome”  
“I didn’t say thank you” she smirked, leaning into the back of the softly padded chair “but thank you” she smiled, taking another sip of coffee

Oliver nodded as he ran a comb of fingers through his hair.  
Felicity squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment before she placed the coffee cup down on the thick glass table, a heavy sigh crawling up her body, there was something she needed to know.

“Oliver, did we, did I, we, uh” she struggled for the words  
“Did we have sex?” Oliver asked bluntly  
Felicity’s reply came in the form of a bobbed nod and a pointed index finger.

“Felicity, you were drunk” Oliver spoke as he stood from the table and smoothed down the sides of his pants “I would never take advantage of you like that”

Felicity met his gaze, the intensity of the blue in his eyes making her breath hitch just slightly in the back of her lumbered throat.  
“It’s probably not my business, but it seemed like you had something you were drinking to forget last night”  
“You’re right” she replied, taking a drawn drink of coffee “it’s not any of your business”

Oliver raised his palms in surrender before he neatly placed his bowl on the room service tray.  
“Are you working today?” he asked, taking the obvious hint it was time for a topic change  
“No” she replied softly, her head mimicking the response with a slow shake

“Good, the boat anchors at noon, which is in” he glanced down at his black and platinum watch “an hour” he looked up, taking a step towards her “that should give you enough time to finish your coffee and get whatever you need from your cabin”

“Why?” she asked, her brows pinched inward  
“We’re going to go be tourists for a few hours” Oliver replied, unzipping his green hoodie  
“Oliver, I’m not disembarking with you”  
“And why not?”  
“Because-“ her mouth hung open, just waiting for a perfectly acceptable reason to just fall out, but none came  
“I didn’t want to have to use this, but remember you _did_ throw up on me. Like, all over me” he smiled, gesturing both hands in circles across his chest “just everywhere”

Felicity folded her lips inward, stifling a brimming smile.  
“Okay then, I guess that’s fair penance”

“Do you have any real food? Like pop tarts or I don’t know some greasy fries?” she hummed, picking at the sliced rock melon  
“Next time, I promise” he replied with a boyish grin

* * *

  
The midday sun was bright, spilling shimmering light across the crystal blue waters that surrounded the pier as the tropical breeze that lightly whipped through the palm trees in the distance instantly cooled the temperature, making it the most pleasant of days.

Oliver offered his hand to Felicity as she took the last two steps of the gangway. Their hands lingered entwined for a few moments longer than they needed to before Felicity ferried hers away, idly adjusting the bag slung over her shoulder.

“So, where are we going?” she asked, the breeze gently dancing strands of hair across her face  
Oliver shrugged his shoulders in jest.  
“I didn’t really have a plan” he replied coyly  
“Mr McFancyBriefs doesn’t have a plan?” she smirked, lulling two fingers down his arm

He shrugged again, slipping the small rugsack from her shoulder and putting it onto his own.  
“I can carry my own bag” she pouted  
“I didn’t say you couldn’t Miss Smoak, but that doesn’t mean you should”  
“Enough with the Miss, we’re not in the 1920s and you’re not some ruggedly handsome farm boy trying to sweep me off my feet”  
“Maybe I was in a past life” he laughed with a shrug  
“You believe in past lives?” she questioned doubtfully  
“No, not at all, but that doesn’t mean I’m right”

Felicity smiled as she followed his lead down the pier. It was a short walk to the bustling crowds in the small shopping strip. Locals busied themselves in the midday warmth as mopeds and delivery trucks moved slowly through the crowds meandering about. Felicity’s eyes grew wide as she saw the particularly garish florescent rainbow t-shirt hanging from the roof of a nearby store.

She grabbed Oliver’s hand and marched him towards it, glancing back at his mildly perplexed expression. The worn but friendly face of the shopkeeper smiled and nodded as Felicity pointed eagerly up at the fashion monstrosity.

“What is that?” Oliver asked, a forged smile pulled across his lips  
“It’s for you Mr I-Don't-Own-Any-Fun-Tee Shirts” Felicity grinned, faking a deep voice that was supposed to be in imitation of Oliver’s  
“I’m not wearing that” he laughed as Felicity held it up against his chest  
“Yes you are”  
“No I’m not”  
“Yes. You. Are”  
Oliver leant down, his lips pressed against her ear.  
“What makes you so sure?” he whispered, his hot breath gently skimming her neck  
“Because, you wear this the whole day and I’ll kiss you” she matched the whisper of his voice with her own

Oliver pulled back, a smile locked across his face as he eyes narrowed at hers as she raised a brow and dipped her head to the side.  
“On the cheek no doubt?” he asked  
“You’ll have to take that chance Oliver. Live a little, wear the shirt. I’m wearing the one you bought me” she laughed, feathering her fingers over the hem on the delicate red fabric of the designer top

“I think there is an argument of disparity” Oliver laughed, taking the florescent horror from her hands  
He took out his wallet and handed the still-smiling shopkeeper a few notes that were worth more than double the price tag of the garish shirt.  
“Keep it” he smiled as the man tried to offer him some back.

They stepped back out into the street as Oliver handed over the bag which Felicity took with a smile.  
“You drive a hard bargain Miss-“ he stopped himself as he folded the tee over his head and through his arms, over the top of his grey Henley “Felicity”  
“Nothing worthwhile comes easy” she smiled stepping back to admire the figure he cut in the hideous tee

“Shall we?” Oliver asked, nodding towards a black jeep with muddied paintwork sitting across the street  
“Get into a strange car in a foreign country? No, no we probably shouldn’t” she jested, her hair tumbling across her face as she shook her head  
“Oh come on Felicity, where is your sense of adventure?”  
“Not getting murdered”  
She laughed as he tugged her reluctantly towards it and opened the door.  
“Oliver, no” she quipped as he gestured for her to get inside the slightly worn 4x4 jeep  
“Felicity, yes” he replied, lifting her at the waist until her feet clambered against the foot of the doorframe

Oliver got in behind her, his weight lightly pushing her further into the car until he could close the door. Felicity huffed as she settled into the bench seat of the older styled jeep.

“Good afternoon Mr Queen, Ms Smoak” the driver, who spoke almost perfect English, smiled in the rear view mirror.  
“You could have just told me you knew about this car” Felicity sighed, slapping Oliver’s arm with the back of her hand  
“Where are we going?” she asked, leaning over to watch the streetscape pass by as the jeep ambled through them  
“No idea” Oliver shrugged  
“You’re a terrible liar” Felicity retorted  
“Am I?”  
“You have a tell”  
“I do?”  
She turned to face him, her lips pressed together, softly pursing before releasing into a smile.  
“You do” she nodded  
“And that is?”  
“Oh I’m not telling you, you’ll try and hide it, that’s no fun” she laughed, turning her attention back out the window as the jeep turned off the street and onto an unpaved track.

“And what about you, are you a good liar?” Oliver asked, shifting slightly in his chair, aware of the sudden ease he felt next to her  
She twisted her head to face him, her lips curled into a gentle smile before she shrugged softly.  
“Who’s to say?”

It was another 15 minutes before the jeep pulled to a slow halt. The view was blanketed by native trees canopying overhead with just sparse beams of sunlight piercing through the thick blanketing as the air fell still.

The passenger door opened and the driver smiled kindly as Oliver stepped out first, his boat shoes crunching underfoot before he turned to offer his hand to Felicity who took it as she stepped down from the jeep.

“Follow that path down about 10 minutes, everything is as you asked. I’ll be waiting here for you whenever you wish to leave Mr Queen” the valet spoke as he nodded towards a small clearing in the trees just ahead.

“Thank you” Oliver smiled, folding a large tip into the man’s hand  
“I thought you didn’t have anything planned?” Felicity asked, her eyes drawn to a Scarlet Macaw perched on a branch above  
“I thought you could tell when I was lying?”  
“Well played Mr Queen, well played”

She followed him through the small clearing. The ‘path’ was a dirt track that weaved through the dense foliage, most of which Oliver had to duck under to avoid catching it across his face.

“How did you know I would come?” Felicity asked, trudging along behind Oliver  
“I didn’t” came his reply  
“So you set this up just in case?”  
“Well, only I would have known that I was the sad guy who couldn’t get the girl to come with him, so I could have lived with that” he laughed, helping her down a particularly large drop in the ground, his palm rested on the small of her back

“I don’t understand you Oliver” she breathed, tucking her hair behind her ear as she found herself now leading the way  
“What’s there to not understand?”  
“Why? Why me?”  
“You asked me the same thing last night”  
“Good to know even in my drunken state I can still be somewhat coherent. So what was your answer, you like my ass?”  
Oliver smiled with a little shrug of his head.  
“Well I don’t disagree with your logic, but that’s not the reason”  
“So what is?”  
“I’ll tell you again another time” he smiled, gesturing out to the scene in front of them just as they came to the end of the path

Felicity’s feet sunk into the soft sand as her eyes danced around the sudden change of scenery. The beach was small, but empty, the beautiful white sand rolled lightly across the landscape as the ocean lightly rocked against the shore.

“Mr Queen, right this way?” a small woman with a bright smile spoke as she appeared beside them

Oliver kicked off his shoes and gestured for Felicity to follow the small woman. She looked at him dubiously, but didn’t say a word as she relented and followed.

A few feet away sat a smoothed out blanket, a littering of large outdoor pillows around the edges and an array of food laid out in the centre of it.

“Oliver, this looks like a date. I didn’t agree to a date” she said nervously chewing on her bottom lip  
“It’s not a date, it’s just lunch”  
“Just lunch?” she quipped, her eyes narrowing at him  
“Just lunch” he nodded “although the massages I have planned for afterwards might be considered a date”  
“Oliver” she huffed, kicking her toes lightly in the sand “a girl should know she’s going on a date before she ends up on one”

“You’re right, I’ll take you back to the boat” Oliver agreed, taking a step back towards the direction they had sauntered in from  
Felicity’s eyes travelled over the array of food just as her stomach chirped in its feelings on the matter. The black coffee and the handful of grapes this morning were no longer keeping her satisfied.

“Well it seems a shame to waste all this food” she sighed, her eyes caught on the chocolate covered strawberries  
“Oh it’s fine, don’t worry about it” Oliver replied, his hand skating down her arm, stopping at her wrist to lightly guide her away  
“Just ask me properly” she huffed, blowing a puff of air through her glossed lips

Oliver smiled, the dimples lightly flexing in his cheeks.  
“Felicity, would you like to go on a date with me?”  
“Well, this comes as a big surprise, I’m really not sure what to say” she paused, tapping a finger absently to her lip

“Felicity –“ he sighed, his voice rolling her name over a soft growl  
“What, you get to enjoy taunting me all morning and I can’t have the same fun back?”

Oliver cocked his head to the side – _fair call_.  
“Yes” she said simply, all games aside – she wanted to, head be dammed.

She settled into the blanket, her legs tucked to the side, under her body as Oliver filled a champagne glass with decidedly fresh orange juice.

Felicity took it with a thankful nod as she watched Oliver try to contain his long, muscular legs within the square of the blanket.

“So, we’re really going to do this aren’t we?” she smiled, sipping on the fresh orange juice, the stem of the glass held lightly between her fingers  
“Do what?” Oliver asked, his eyes hovering lightly across the soft curves of her face  
“You and me, it’s going to turn into a thing isn’t it?”  
“A good thing, or a bad thing?”  
“Probably a bit of both”

“We could deny it all we want, but this sexual tension is palpable and it’s only a matter of time till I’m ripping your clothes off and you’re screaming my name” she shrugged  
“For the record, I’m okay with this”  
Felicity sighed tapping her finger against the glass.  
“I’m okay with it too, but there are some rules”  
“Rules?” Oliver quipped, watching her over the rim of his glass  
“Sure, if we know them from the outset then there can’t be any confusion”

“Alright, and what are these rules?” Oliver asked before he popped a small cracker into his mouth, brushing a quick sweep down his folded leg  
“You don’t lie to me. If you don’t want to tell me the truth then say that, but don’t lie to me. First lie you tell, I’m out, deal?”  
Oliver took a breath, watching the serious strands rolling through her eyes.  
“Deal” he agreed  
“Good, you’ll get the same in return” Felicity replied  
“Are there more rules?”  
She nodded as her lips turned up at the corner seams.  
“You don’t say no without considering it for at least ten minutes”  
“Considering what?”  
“Anything, everything” she shrugged her shoulders lightly, the soft glow of the slightly shrouded sun dancing over the smooth curves of them  
“Same rule applies to you?”  
“Of course”  
“Deal. Anymore?” he asked taking another cracker

Felicity blinked down taking a heavy breath as she rolled her thoughts over her final and most important rule.  
“You don’t make me try to fall in love with you. I don’t want to fall in love and you don’t need to try. That’s not what this is, so don’t make grand gestures or any wild proposals. I don’t want to have to say no”

Oliver felt a strange mix of emotions coursing through him, this would have been Ollie Queen’s ultimate dream come true – but Oliver Queen wanted something more, didn’t he?

“Oliver?” Felicity asked, aware of the silence hanging over the moment “don’t agree to something you can’t keep”  
Oliver swallowed down the thoughts bouncing around his brain.  
“Deal” he replied with a smile “Same in return?”  
“Of course, rules are rules”


	6. The First Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut.  
> Landed.

**Day 7: Golfito, Costa Rica**

“So, why are you such a pessimist?” Oliver asked, reclining into a small mountain of pillows  
“I’m not a pessimist” Felicity replied, folding a hand through her wind swept hair “I’m a slightly damaged optimist”  
“Okay, so why are you a slightly damaged optimist?” his brows lightly danced over the question he asked because he genuinely wanted to know the answer  
“Because” she shrugged “I just don’t think love is all that people make it out to be. Movies, books, shows, they all promote love as a pinnacle to be reached, when in fact, it’s usually the opposite”

“Dear god that sounds gloomy” he grinned, slipping a slice of melon into his mouth  
Felicity threw a grape at Oliver with a chuckle.  
“It’s not gloomy, it’s realistic. What happens to the people in those movies or books when they wake up one morning and realise they don’t know how to be a whole person without someone else?”

“Is that such a bad thing?”  
“Have you ever been in love Oliver? I mean, really, truly in love?”  
“No” he replied simply, folding his lips closed after the simple truth of that word  
“It changes a person. It makes you believe it can conquer all, that it can survive anything, so it makes people pretend they can’t see the blemishes. It makes people forget who they were because all they become is someone who can’t function without that other person. So you just put up with shit because you don’t know how not to anymore”

“That sounds pretty pessimistic to me, a person resigning themselves to being alone because they happened upon loving the wrong kind of person”

“I never said you had to be alone. You can have all the good things about being with someone without this idea of love and giving yourself completely over to it. You can enjoy their company, hell you can even be enamoured with them without losing yourself to a feeling that is fleeting at best, stupefying at worst. You can be faithful and you can be honest and you can be together, you don’t need three one-syllable words to validate that” she sighed, her body propped up on her elbows as she looked out towards the growing tide

“But if they love you back, then they’re in it just as much, aren’t they?”  
She rolled her head, her blue eyes capturing his intently.  
“Love is never equal, someone always loves more. Someone is always willing to bend just that little bit more. Chris Isaak was right, it’s a wicked game. Love is tortuous and cruel and I want no part of it” she replied bluntly, her eyes without a flicker of uncertainty in that resolve  
“And you’re okay with that?” she asked pointedly  
“I wouldn’t have agreed to your third rule if I wasn’t”  
“Good, because you have an incredibly comfortable bed” she smiled, breaking the heavy tension that was dampening the air

Even in Oliver’s somewhat short résumé on any kind of relationship resembling real love, he could tell her distrust of the emotion didn’t stem from a late 80’s pop rock ballad – it stemmed from being the ‘ _someone that bent just that little bit more_ ’.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t interested in that story, but her quip about his bed was a deflection if he wasn’t mistaken. He wanted to see beneath that layered wall she’d built, but here, now, it wasn’t the time.

“I’m glad you think so” he replied simply – he would give her the respite she was looking for

* * *

  
“Nice shirt Sir” a young porter smiled as they boarded the ship an hour before the departure time of 7pm.  
“No it’s not, but I appreciate you managed to say that without smirking” Oliver winked, folding a sizable tip discretely into the Porter’s palm  
The sun was setting in a halo of rich pink and orange hues as they walked through the lively crowd on the deck.

“You fit right in” Felicity smiled, tugging at the hem of Oliver’s tee as she nodded towards a group of 50-something year old men in almost identical shirts.  
“They look like an exceptionally fun bunch” he replied, waving as they looked over, one waving a brisk hand back  
“I bet you can make friends with just about anyone can’t you Oliver?”  
“That depends”  
“On?”  
He tapped his nose and smiled.  
“We all need our secrets Miss Smoak”  
“Mmm” she hummed, folding her lips to a soft smile “that we do Mister Queen”

“Have I worn this thing long enough to get the promised kiss?” he asked as they walked into the echoing expanse of the ship’s atrium  
She turned her head back, her hand lightly sweeping over his as her eyes danced a flickering smile across them.  
“I should think you’ve kept up your end of the bargain” she replied, stopping just to the side of the large, opulent stairway  
“And what of your end of the bargain” he breathed, leaning dangerously close to her

He was almost surprised she when didn’t flinch, didn’t blush to his advances, she didn’t even bat an eyelid, instead her eyes met directly with his. Her lips plumped, a soft stroke of her tongue between the seam moistening them. He could feel her breath bouncing off his prickled skin.

Just the smallest slither of air was between them now as leaned his hand on the balustrade behind her, breathing her in as he leant closer, his senses dancing in the intoxication he felt.

“Tommy” she whispered in his ear, her lips skating the words across his cheek  
Oliver pulled back the sheer confusion written across his face – _did she just say Tommy?_  
She smiled as she nodded over his shoulder to where Tommy stood, once again with a highly apologetic look on his face.

“I am interrupting” he stammered, a leggy blonde hanging off his arm “again”  
“Yes” Oliver said bluntly  
“Not at all” Felicity added, a palm pushed back against Oliver’s chest, forcing the gap between them to widen  
Tommy looked across at Oliver, his eyes twitching with an apology as Oliver simply stared back with steeled eyes.

“I’m just going to leave you two” Tommy smiled gingerly as he softly shrugged one shoulder  
“It’s fine Tommy, please say what you came over to say, pay no mind to Oliver and his ridiculous shirt”

Tommy stifled a laugh as the leggy blonde set about flipping her hair at least three different directions.  
“I just wanted to know if you two wanted to join us for dinner, Mandy and I”  
“It’s Candy” the blonde interrupted  
“Are you sure?” Tommy asked  
“I mean, yea” she replied with a slow nod “I think so”  
“Not Mandy?”  
“No, Candy”  
“Hmm, I could have sworn you said Mandy”  
“I guess I could have”

 _Oh god_  
Felicity wanted to put her fingers in her ears in case the stupidity was infectious, but she simply smiled and nodded at the inane conversation happening in front of her.  
“No, thank you, I think we’re fine, unless you would especially like to?” Oliver smiled, glancing back at Felicity  
He could with absolute certainty tell she was trying to hold back a barrage of insulting comments.  
“Nope, full” she said quickly, afraid that lingering over any extra words would cause her to say something she couldn’t take back, she did work on this ship after all.

“That’s a great shirt” Candy smiled, dragging a finger down Oliver’s chest  
_Oh god, really?_ Felicity squeezed her mouth shut  
“Well thank you Candy, this lovely lady bought it for me” Oliver replied, wrapping his arm over Felicity’s shoulder “you two seem like you would get on great”

“Tom and I have spent the whole day together, I’d love some girl on girl time” Candy grinned, hopping from one foot to the other  
“You hear that honey? Candy wants some girl on girl time, how fun would that be?” Oliver smirked  
“So fun” Felicity managed to say as she smoothed a palm across Oliver’s back, stopping just under the hem of his two tees, her fingers taking in a pinch of skin at his waist

He cringed slightly, but kept his composure as she pinched her fingers together and smiled brightly up at him.  
“But we really need to pass tonight” she continued  
Oliver winced a little as Felicity pinched harder, warning him to not prolong this any further.  
“Felicity is right, another night” Oliver added, trying to hide his discomfort in a full smile

“Ooookay” Tommy laughed  
Candy simply shrugged, the underlying situation clearly lost on her before they strolled away, arms linked.

“That was cruel, that poor girl just wanted some girl on girl” Oliver laughed as Felicity dropped her grip on him, Tommy and the leggy blonde now far enough away.  
“You are an evil, ruthless man. She had trouble being sure about what her name was, that dinner would have been a blood bath” Felicity gaped “No way I could have listened to that all night”

“Not to mention her clearly putting the moves on you when I am standing right here” she huffed, rolling her eyes  
“Are you jealous?” Oliver asked, playfully rolling a strand of Felicity’s hair through his thick fingers  
“No, why would I be? It’s just, like a girl code or something right?”  
“I don’t know, you’re the girl” Oliver shrugged wistfully  
“But I’ve never needed to insist on the code” Felicity replied, her head dropping a little to the side  
“You should ask Candy about this code”

Felicity narrowed her eyes, her lips twisting into a fierce pout. She started to turn away in jest when his hand caught her arm.  
“I’m still waiting for my kiss”  
She brushed her cheek against his, her body stretching up on her tippy toes as she whispered “I was never going to give you this kiss in public Oliver”

She pulled back to watch the smile grow across his lips. Without more than a second passing in the passage of time he took her hand and led her up the stairs towards his suite.

* * *

  
Felicity walked in the suite, her fingers trawling lightly across the table pressed against the wall, her eyes tracking over the view out of the windows, the puffy white clouds bathed in the brilliant hues of sunset.

“That view is worth every penny” Oliver remarked, slumping down onto the arm of the couch, his hand gently brushing against Felicity’s leg  
“Will you stay a little longer?” he asked, swallowing a heavy hitch in the back of his throat  
“I still owe you that kiss” she smiled, gently easing her body between his legs

He smiled as she feathered her fingers up his arms, twisting a forefinger into the short strands of hair at the back of his head.

She leaned closer, her knees pressing against the arm of the chair and dancing dangerously close to his simmering erection.

Oliver’s eyes lulled slowly to a contended half closed position, breathing it the distinctive scent of her hair as it waved slowly under his nose. All he could think was how insanely good she smelled and how much he wanted to taste her – her lips, her breasts, her legs – whatever part of her body she was willing to offer, he was desperate to taste.

“On the cheek?” he hummed, sensing his earlier prediction had been correct

He felt the warmth of her breath slick against his cheek, stopping his breath as her lips dragged across the smooth stubble.  
“No quite” she whispered, her lips folding over the lobe of his ear

A pointed finger pushed in against his skin drew a path down the underside of his jawline, a path that her dragged lips mirrored seconds later. The finger stopped, pressing in against the fleshy pulse point to the left of his chin.

Moments later her warm lips caved in around her finger before she slipped it aside. Her tongue swept over his drum-beat pulse, dancing light licks intercepted with scorched lips across it.

Oliver felt his head lulling to the side, swept up in the delicate and entrancing sensation she was lathing on him. His hands couldn’t help but walk slowly up her thighs, swooping in across her waist before smoothing into the dip of her back.

He needed her naked, in his arms right now, nothing else would suffice.

He jerked her hungrily back, breaking her lips from the trance they had over his neck.  
“I wasn’t finish-“ she started to say before his lips caved in on hers, his hands holding her firmly against his broad chest.

His lips devoured hers, concaving around her beautifully pouted bottom lip. His tongue searched across the seam there, desperate for a reciprocation which came seconds later as her mouth fell open.

His tongue moved swiftly, sweeping across the warmth of her mouth, the sensation stirring up every carnal desire he had ever had.

The ways he wanted to do her would make even the brashest of people blush an embarrassed shade of pink.

“Oliver” she gasped against his lips as his hands made their own choices, skimming the underside of her ass before squeezing in around her cheeks.

He grunted a response, fully aware that the grasp on the basic English language had left him the moment her hot, wet lips sucked in against his neck.

“I don’t sleep with a man on the first date” she growled, snagging his bottom lip playfully between her teeth  
He lapped up the sudden, sharp nip on his lip with fevered enjoyment as his hands continued to massage in against her firm ass

She drew her head back, pulling his lip taunt before it snapped back to meet with his top one, her face now a few inches from his, her back perfectly arched in his hands  
“Not first date. Second” he finally spoke, swiping his tongue across his bottom lip, still tingled with the sensation of her teeth scraping against it.  
“The first was just dinner, not a date” she corrected, purposefully gliding her chest against his, her lips scraping each word atop his

“No, definitely a date” he hummed, pulling her tighter to mould her body perfectly to his  
He snapped at her lips, catching her top lip between his, causing her to huff playfully

“That still” she kissed the words to his lips, feathering her fingers across his scalp “only makes two” she finished, dragging her lips across his prickled jaw

Oliver leaned back on the arm of the chair, taking her with him as he peppered her neck with hot, pulsed kisses. Blindly his hand fumbled across the couch, tapping lightly against the brocade fabric. His core tightened as he stretched out further, his body almost planking across the arm of the chair, but unwilling to let her go.

Despite his strength his body gave way and they fell backwards onto the chair his legs leaving off the ground and her body falling completely onto his. He trapped her lips on hers before she could protest as his free hand ran under her floaty top, savouring the smooth dip of her spine as her back gently arched at the feeling.

Finally, his other hand found what it had been searching for and he pushed a quick succession of buttons on the remote now in his hand.  
“What are you doing?” she asked, pressing the questions to his lips, her teeth lightly sucking in his pert and soft bottom lip that she had become rather fond of

“Movie” he huffed, the TV mounted on the wall in front of them springing to life “third date”  
“It’s the same day, that doesn’t count” she smiled, her lips curling round his bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth with what could only be described as a hungering  
“It counts”  
His hands sunk into her waist, lifting her clear off his body and sitting himself up. Her back was stiff against the arm of the couch, one leg bent up around him, the second planted firming on the ground as he prowled his hands between her legs, pushing his much larger frame into her, desperately searching for a spot on her shoulders he hadn’t yet kissed.

“You find loopholes” she breathed, rolling her back to sweep her pelvis against the tight bulge across the front panel of his pants  
“If I want something bad enough” he growled, a low husky gravel in his voice signalling just how much he wanted this  
“And you want this Oliver?” she asked, her hands dancing tantalising trails up his taunt arms

Oliver pulled back his face from hers, the carnal desire she’d awoke in him was as clear as the blue of his eyes. He didn’t need to say a word as he cocked his head a little to the side and let his eyes trek over her body.

Felicity matched his heated look with one of her own. It had been too long since someone had looked at her the way Oliver was looking at her right now. If she thought about it long enough, she reached a time span of about eleven months. It has been eleven months since a man had looked at her like he wanted to rip her clothes off and have her completely.

 _Eleven fucking months_  
“That long huh?” he asked, his lips folded over into a smirk  
She grabbed the collar of that ridiculous top, gripping it fiercely in her fists, before yanking him forward, crashing her heated lips onto his.

It was a flurry of lips and fevered groans as teeth, lips and tongues wrestled with each other. It was not passionate nor was it the least bit romantic. It was raw, hungry, needy, an embered flame that had burst into an inferno.

Eleven fucking months and any restraint Felicity possessed was absolutely decimated by the ravenous way his hands tore her top over her head.

“Fuck” he groaned, low in his chest as his lips attacked her neck, his hands grappling at her chest with the enthusiasm of a teenager  
Felicity couldn’t help but be caught up in the way his eyes were lathering her in attention. Despite her initial reservations, she would be remiss to not absolutely – fucking – adore this attention.

It was invigorating, pulling out the minx inside Felicity that she had long ago buried under sensible clothes and a demure ponytail.  
“See something you like Oliver?” she asked, grabbing his face between her palms and forcing his eyes to meet with hers  
“This bra is incredible, it’s no wonder you decided to keep it” he smirked, flicking his thumb across the delicate satin cup, the pressure heavenly against her pebbled nipple

“You should see the other half of the set” she smiled, slipping away from his explorative hands

He watched her stand, his body shifting so he sat directly in front of her with his feet planted either side of her body.

He couldn’t help but to swipe his tongue across his lips. It hadn’t been eleven months for him, more like ten days – the really loud waitress in Florida who insisted on referring to his penis in the third person being the most recent – but looking at Felicity now he felt like a priest about to renounce his life-long celibacy without a second thought.

Oliver was absolutely enamoured with her. Every slight curve her body made he wanted to feel, the light licks of fine blonde hair that naturally grew around her navel had him mesmerized at the thought of rolling his tongue across them. It may not have been eleven months but it felt like ...  
_A fucking lifetime._  
“I will pay to see the other half of that set” he mumbled, smacking his lips together hungrily as she peeled back her zipper fly, the sound of it echoing through his ears.  
“Oliver” she crooned, tapping two fingers on her skin tight jeans “that would make me a stripper”  
“And that’s bad?”  
“Not existentially, but for here and now, it’s not really conductive to getting me naked”  
“Duly noted” he hummed, his hand desperately twitching to touch her

Felicity lapped up the attention she doubted he even knew he was giving her, his lips idly rolling over each other as though they were famished, set to only be satisfied once they were back on hers. The way his hands twitched at his sides as she peeled back the band of her jeans, like it was taking ever ounce of control he had not to do it himself.

“You like to be in control don’t you?” she whispered, leaning down, a hand pressed against the back of the couch either side of his head  
His eyes tracked across the milky skin of her heaving chest, swallowing back his hungered desperation.  
“And do you enjoy taking that control away from me?” he answered with his own question

She smiled at his question, pushing herself back up. Without another word she slipped the jeans down her legs and stepped one foot from them, kicking the other foot backwards and sending the discarded jeans sliding across the floor.

“Not tonight” she sighed, taking an almost immoral amount of pleasure from his clear lust “This time, you control. Show me how Oliver Queen needs it” she smiled, in as much as she could tell he wanted to pounce, after eleven months that’s precisely what she wanted too.

Oliver didn’t need a second longer to think through her proposal. It was almost instantaneous the way he leapt to his feet, dropped his pants to his ankles and swept her effortlessly into his arms. He stumbled one foot from his pants as his hands massaged into her ass. Her arms swarmed around his neck, her legs nesting into the strong girth of his waist.

He stumbled blindly through the room, unwilling to take his lips from hers as they crashed together in a symphony of hungry growls and vivacious mewls.

His knees hit the armless white leather recliner in the corner of the room, the opposite direction to where he’d been intending to take her, but if he was being honest he was barely keeping himself together at this point and he was unsure he would make it to the bedroom with her rolling her wet warmth against his bare chest, the thin silk panties doing little to stifle the sensation against his chest.

Oliver pressed her body into the leather chair, enjoying the way her naked back arched at the sudden coolness of it against her tempered skin. He watched with blown eyes as her feet pinched in against the fabric as she pushed her body up, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

 _Shit_ she could have asked absolutely anything of him in that moment and he would have, without any reservation, given it to her.  
He would have signed over his entire portfolio to her.  
She could have his favourite car, the house in New York, fuck she could have had anything...

But her eyes asked for nothing, nothing but him and this moment.  
What a change that made.

With steady hands he pushed her legs open, smoothing his thumbs in paths up the soft, supple lushness of her thighs, watching with avid enjoyment when her head pushed back into the headrest of the chair, her breath hitched in tiny pants.

He finally kicked his pants free from his ankle sending them under the recliner before he climbed onto the chair. His lips tingled with the pulsing heat of her skin as he took in a mouthful of her collarbone.

His erection was thick, coated already with the slick start of something he was afraid he couldn’t hold back much longer. He could smell her own desire. It was heavy in the air between them and he wanted nothing more that to encase his cock in it. In fact, he’d never wanted something quite so much in his life that the thought of waiting a minute longer was torturous.

“Felicity” he groaned her name against the heavy beat of her pulse  
“Mmm” she replied, her fingers combing relentless through his hair  
“How do you feel about foreplay?”  
She didn’t even flinch at the intimacy of his question as she shifted her body underneath the tantric weight of his.  
“Ordinarily I’m a big fan” she panted, folding her fingers into the waist of his briefs, her fingertips bathing in the heat resonating from his crotch “but right now, it’s completely unnecessary”

She pulled on the briefs, drinking up the heavy gasp that fell from his lips as his cock striped from its sheath, ached, desperate to fall straight into her.

“Protection?” she huffed, her mind barely holding onto any forethought  
Oliver fumbled under the chair searching for his discarded pants as Felicity racked her nails across his shaft.

He pulled his wallet from his pocket and found the single wrapped condom in record time. He tore the foil wrap from it and within seconds his raging cock was fully covered.

Pushing her panties to the side, his fingers grew slick with her as he angled his hips just above her, spreading her wider.

Perhaps he should have tempered his entrance into her, but he couldn’t still himself a minute longer as he pushed himself in deeply and fluidly, burying himself to the hilt almost instantly.

“Fuck” she cursed, the intense and sudden feeling stealing any other words from her.  
Every bit of her body felt the completeness of his entry, it was encompassing, desperate, absolutely carnal and precisely what she wanted – eleven months meant right now Felicity just wanted to be fucked.

Oliver caught the way her eyes blew wide and she snatched her bottom lip between her teeth pinching it with such ferocity he thought she might break skin there. He had been too heavy handed, taken what he had wanted without considering her. He went to pull back, just an inch, to apologise somewhat for his full assault entry when she grabbed his shoulders and wrapped a single leg around his back, her heel pressing against the curve of his ass and sinking him that inch deeper inside.

Felicity arched her back and dug her nails into his shoulders as he eased out and glided back in. Even with the thin veil of rubber separating their bodies he could feel her warmth and the fluttering of her walls around his shaft and... hand on heart, it felt _fucking amazing._

He pumped back and forth, appreciating with heavy grunts the way she clenched as he pulled back, rubbing almost sinfully against his tip.

His palms sunk into her breasts, pulling the bra down her waist, unwilling to waste the time unfastened it. He caught her moans against his lips, breathy and hot they made him hungrier.

He could already feel himself teetering on the edge of his own release and aside from withdrawing completely he knew there was little he could do to halt it.

“Oh shit” she moaned against his chiselled jaw.  
She was close, ridiculously close given the short time frame, but that’s what eleven months without good, toe curling sex will do to a person.

He hummed her name into her neck, desperate to let each syllable fall from his lips, especially enjoying the way the ‘l’ sound allowed his tongue to lap over her skin.

Faster he pumped, feeling his head rub gloriously over her tensing walls and feasting over her breasts with his hands. He could take it no longer, feeling the swelling sensation in his balls and the tightening down his shaft – save for thinking about his elementary school headmistress there was no way he was stifling this release.

He felt her body rolling underneath his her mouth dancing over words.  
“Mmmhmm yes” she heaved, snapping her eyes closed as she sped up his already quickened pace by lifting her ass off the chair and pushing him deeper

That was all he needed to see to push him free falling off the edge. He keep pumping through his release, relishing the way she continued to ride him like she needed just a little bit more.

“Fuck” she cursed, one set of fingernails plunging into his shoulder, the other tracking through her hair, tugging at her scalp.

Oliver couldn’t help but be transfixed at the absolute freeness with which she gave herself over to it. His lips captured hers, licking his tongue across the soft bead of sweat smattered over her cupids bow, drinking in her sweetness as he felt her inside concave around his sensitive shaft.

He held her sweltering body close to his, taking absolutely pleasure in the tiny jerks her body made as she huffed loudly against his mouth.

Moments later, as his senses slowly came back to him, he realised just how hard and fast they had been, neither even taking the time to fully remove their clothes. Their bodies were somewhat awkwardly twisted in the leather recliner surrounded by windows, at least a good hour before the setting sun provided any real cover.

His hands had barely touched her, their kisses had been hurried and hungry and he hadn’t worshipped her body as he knew it well deserved.

“So we got that slightly, what did you call it, awkward?” Oliver whispered, kissing a soft line along her collarbone  
“Overwhelming, because of all this” she quoted her previous words, the corner of her lips folding up into a smirk as her arm fell over the back of the chair  
“Right, so the slightly overwhelming awkward first is over” he lick the hollow of her bone in a quick swipe back towards her neck

“And next time I’m in control” she sighed, rolling her hips as he slowly slid out of her  
“Do you like to be in control?” he asked coyly, kissing a soft path down her chest as he slid down the chair, flicking his tongue across her lightly pebbled nipple

“No Oliver, this will be for your benefit, you need to learn to let go of some control” she replied softly

He grinned as he padded away to the bathroom. Felicity flung one leg over the chair and tugged her bra back up her body.

“What makes you think I always need to be in control?” he called from the bedroom  
Felicity smiled as she fluffed a hand through her tousled hair.  
“Hmmmm how about the fact you brought cufflinks on a cruise, seven pairs in fact” she laughed, picking up her discarded top from floor beside the couch

“Doesn’t that just mean I’m a snappy dresser?”  
She listened to the toilet flushing and the running of the tap as she folded the wispy red top back onto her body.

Oliver wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his chest to her back as she jostled the hem of the top straight on her body.  
“That might explain one pair, maybe two” she replied, slowly rocking in his arms as his breath warmed her neck

“But you McFancyBriefs, you have seven pairs because you needed to be sure you could control any and all eventualities”  
“Is that a bad thing?”  
“No, but neither is mixing up your socks”  
“Point taken, so show me”  
“Not tonight Oliver” she slid his arms gently away from her body  
“You’re not staying?”

She squinted her eyes gently at him, she had already spent far too much time with him for the day. It was time to step back.  
“No, I’m not the girl you wake up next to” she gathered her fallen jeans in her hand  
“But I’m the one that needs to be in control?” he mocked playfully  
“You mistake my honesty for control Oliver, I assure you they are quite different” she smiled, patting his cheek lightly before she slipped her legs into her jeans and tugged them up

“Do I get to ask when I can see you again?” he asked  
“You can ask Oliver, but I can’t guarantee you’ll like the answer”  
“What is the answer?”  
“I don’t know when, a couple of days”  
Oliver huffed, perplexed but her sudden off handedness.  
“You don’t understand, and I get that” she smiled, tapping his bare chest with the palm of his hand “I just think it’s important before we let this go further that we stop and take a moment to decide if that’s what we want”

“I thought I was pretty clear about what I wanted”  
“In the moment, yes, but if we’re going to do this I expect you not to lie to me”  
“I already agreed to that”  
“You did, but I’m going to ask you in a few days not to sleep with any other women on this ship if you want to stay sleeping with me, so I’m going to give you a fair amount of time to decide on that”

She leant up, taking his lips lightly onto hers.  
“I don’t want you to regret this trip, so if you just wanted the experience with me once, then okay, you got that, we both did and we can move on, no issues”  
“I don’t-“  
She stole the rest of his words with another soft kiss.  
“Don’t give me an answer today that will make a liar out of you tomorrow” she blinked back at him “Just think on it”  
She gathered her purse and headed towards the door.  
“Thank you for today Oliver” she said with a sly by hesitant grin “You read my mind”  
Oliver nodded slowly, unsure to be honest what she expected him to say.

She challenged him in ways no one had even tired, but she had let him see over that first wall today. She guarded her heart, not as someone unwilling to love, but as someone that had tried and failed.


	7. The Power-Play

**Day 10: Pureto Quetzal, Guatemala**

Oliver was pacing. He knew he was pacing, it was something that was often brought to his attention. He paced when he couldn’t stand to sit idle any longer. He paced when something was taken out of his hands. He paced when he was desperately trying to claw some of that control back.

Whether she realised it or not Felicity had taken the control from his hands and it was driving him crazy. He was absolutely certain that there were some girls out there – anywhere, that were not attracted to him, this was not some sort of shallow ego boost, but once Oliver had set his eyes on a woman, regardless of her status (marital or otherwise) he had never met one that didn’t fall easily into bed with him, even the ones that superficially played hard to get inevitably gave themselves over to him, until he tired of them and seamlessly moved onto the next.

That was not Felicity.  
Her walls were not superficial.  
She was not _playing_ hard to get.  
And he could not stop thinking about her.

He had given her the space she had requested and he had swung loops around the choice she had posed to him.  
_I’m going to ask you not to sleep with any other women on this ship if you want to stay sleeping with me._

The moment she gave him the choice he had wanted to answer unequivocally that he would agree to that – just as he had with her other three rules. But as the hours stretched to a day Oliver began to wonder whether that was even something he _could_ do.

Ollie Queen had never been in a successful, honest, long-term relationship. If he was brutally honest about it, that was simply because no woman had ever _made_ him want to be in one, with them he had simply taken what he wanted and moved on.

But Felicity, _god Felicity,_ she was different. She made him want for something real with a fervour that was almost addictive.

He would be lying if he said thinking about her didn’t make him insanely hot and bothered. She had taxed him on his need for control, but she hadn’t really seen the half of it. His idea of control was not ripped from the pages of some fantasy novel and it had very little to do with actual control. No, what Oliver had in mind stemmed from his insatiable desire to watch a woman. To bring her right to the edge of what she could handle, tantricly speaking, only to pull back and watch her need it, watch her almost beg for it.

Oliver enjoyed the power play, the knowing he was the one that could give a woman what she wanted, just as easily as he could take it away.

The special ones he studied intimately, learning just how close to the line he could take them, finding their weakness, their hidden pleasures and using them at will. Because he needed that control, he needed to know that they were more in need of him than he ever was of them.

That was his power, his control, and Felicity wanted it.

So that’s how he found himself pacing the suite, staring occasionally down at the drawer beside his bed as his nails scratched at his wrist.

If he had been in control that brisk summery night he would have done more, he could have saved her. Oliver’s faced twisted in hatred, the hatred he held for only one person, the one he couldn’t stand to look at, the one who was cracking at the seams, the one who was destined to be his downfall…the one he saw in his reflection every time he swallowed a pill to try and supress feelings he wasn’t prepared to face.

Oliver hated Ollie.  
Ollie, the philandering playboy with a list of lovers a mile long was his own Mr Hyde. Ollie was the one that couldn’t save _her_. Ollie was the one that couldn’t keep that promise to Felicity, but Oliver could.

* * *

  
Oliver was suddenly regretting his decision as he stood outside the IT office with his balled fist poised an inch away from the door.

“You shouldn’t hang around outside doors in corridors Oliver, people will think you’re weird” a familiarly pleasant voice chirped behind him  
“You caught me” Oliver quipped back, raising his hands in jest

Felicity smiled with painted lips as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose before slowly swiping her card through the lock on the door.

“I was wondering when you would show up”  
“Is that your way of saying you missed me?”  
“Nope” she smiled, pushing the door open “but if it works for you, go with it”  
“So you knew I would come?”  
“I counted on it. Made a bet with myself even” Felicity joked as she closed the door behind him  
“Because you said you’d come to me, but I really didn’t think that was fair?” Oliver huffed , his tone turning his statement into a question

“I knew you wouldn’t” she smiled in response  
“You’ve got me losing my mind”  
“I don’t mean to do that Oliver, I’m not toying with your emotions or stringing you along. I’m just trying to be honest. It’s important we both know where we stand”

“And where is that?”  
“That depends on your answer I should think” she replied, tapping a pen against the light oak desk “which I will hear tonight” she added, her deep red lips folding over the words as she spoke them

“I can give you the answer now” Oliver remarked  
“No, tonight” she replied  
“So this is a wasted trip?”  
“Not entirely, it’s actually very fortuitous, it cuts one more step out”  
“Step?”  
Felicity leaned over her desk, picking up her large navy slouch bag, her legs elongating just enough with the movement that Oliver caught himself silently praying that she might lean a little further and give him a glimpse of what she was wearing under the white polka-dot skirt.

She returned, twisting back around to face him, with an envelope in her hands which she proceeded to hold out to him.  
“What’s this?” he asked, taking it slowly from her fingers  
“Inside are my medical records of sorts. I took the liberty to have an STI check, which is clean” she started with a roll of her head – of course she knew it would be “and you’ll also find a signed record that I have an implant” she tapped the top of her arm gently “so you can rest assured I’m not in this for the baby momma money”

“Felicity, I don’t understand” he asked, his eyebrows folding in over the barrage of information she was giving him  
Instinctively she pushed her tongue between her lips and pressed her shoulders back before taking a somewhat nervous breath.

“I have heard that condoms dull some of the pleasure derived from sex” she spoke slowly, endeavouring to filter each word that came from her mouth  
“Okay” he replied, his eyes squinting as he tried to follow  
“I’ve always believed that if one is going to do something, then it should be done right” she quipped, folding her hands anxiously over each other “if we do _this_ ” she tapped a palm to his firm chest before pressing it against her own

“Then I just think we should make the most out of it. That’s your proof that I’m clean and baby-proofed. I suggest you go to the on-board doctor and get the same thing” she finished her sentence with a swift nod of her head “I mean the STI check, not the implant, because that would be stupid and highly ineffective, given you’re a man” she quipped with a blushed chuckle

“Felicity, I didn’t need you to give me this” he replied, touching his large fingers to the lip of the sealed envelope  
“Well I’ll need it from you” she spoke, her tone seeped in an apologetic undercurrent

“I’m sorry Oliver” she sighed, sensing the awkwardness that fell between them  
Oliver smiled, perhaps he could have taken offence, maybe if it had been anyone else that had called into question – even rightly – his sexual health he wouldn’t have taken it quite so well, but yet again Felicity was proving to challenge him in a refreshingly honest way.

She asked for the truth from him – and offered him the same courtesy.  
“You have nothing to be sorry for” he replied with a tip of his head “I’ll see you tonight?”  
“Yes” she answered softly, coupled with a quick fluttering of her dark lashes against her milky complexion

“Good, tonight then” he folded the enveloped and tucked the same into the pocket

* * *

  
Felicity stood tentatively outside the door her hands idly walking across the belt of her tan Burberry coat, one of the few remnants of a past life that she could not see to purging from her life, she loved this coat.

She took a drawn inhale, pushing it heavily through her freshly painted rouge lips as her other fingers feathered through her high ponytail, coiling the tip of it around her index finger as she willed herself to knock.

Another breath in was all she needed before she rapt her knuckles against the door. Felicity had spent the last hour or so trying to convince herself that she would accept whatever answer Oliver gave with an emotionless resolve, but despite her steeled gaze and continued reassurance that she could accept either answer, she was not under any illusion that him turning down her request for monogamy would not sting a little, despite being the honesty she needed.

The door opened and she had to fold her lips closed to stifle the gasp that was trying to edge its way from her mouth. There was nothing particularly scandalous about the way Oliver was dressed, a simple dark grey tee that clung tightly to his chest matched with midnight-black slacks. His hair was damp with remnants of a recent shower and the scent of a light, crisp aftershave with just a hinted tinge of musk danced lightly across Felicity’s sense, forcing a second hitch to form in Felicity’s throat.

“Come in” he offered the invite without any usual witty remark attached  
Felicity took the invitation with a quick smile as she walked into the cabin that was slowly becoming very familiar.

“First things first” Oliver spoke as he padded into the bedroom, returning less than a minute later with a crisp white, unfolded, sheet of paper “my results, I’m free from any and all nasties and biology assures me I can’t physically get pregnant”

Felicity took the paper he offered and glanced over the information it contained, she wasn’t particularly surprised. Oliver was definitely a _worldly_ man, but not a stupid one.

“Good, and about my other request?” Felicity asked as she slipped the paper face down onto the granite bar, tapping her black pump nervously on the tiled floor

“You have my word. No other women” Oliver replied, his hand twitching at his side desperate to once again feel her silken skin  
“Are you sure?”  
“Absolutely”  
“And you think you can stick with that?”  
“It’s not going to be a problem Felicity”

She huffed out a short, succinct breath she hadn’t realised she was holding, perhaps it was relief, perhaps it was a sense of someone finally choosing just her, whatever the case she swallowed any more such noises down and turned slowly on the spot, her fingers fidgeting with the belt on her coat.  
“Okay good” she sighed softly

“Okay good?” Oliver repeated with a bemused expression as Felicity stood with her back to him “you’re going with okay good?”

Felicity pressed her lips together, forming a smile that he couldn’t see as she finally steadied her fingers enough to thread the fabric belt through the buckle.  
“I was hoping you would say that Oliver” she smiled, turning back towards him on the tip of her black heels as she pulled open the sides of the jacket and let it drop to the floor.

Oliver’s mouth gaped in an expression that comically mirrored one of a cartoon fox who was howling wildly as he tapped his paw and hearts flew out of his eyes, in that moment Oliver didn’t care how absolutely stupid he must have looked because all he could focus on was Felicity, dressed in a deliciously scandalous lingerie set.

His eyes dropped to her feet, the shiny patent leather shoes added about 4 inches to her height and she stood effortlessly in them. Next, he hadn’t even noticed she was wearing stockings when she first walked in but now his eyes were fixated on the thigh-high black glimmering pair that were edged in a thick band of lace and held up with black satin suspenders.

He swallowed the rise in his throat as his eyes then travelled over the soft, exposed skin of her thighs all the way up to her parted apex, shrouded in black satin panties. He felt the sudden urge to rush her and lick a path up the curve of her chest, nibbling it at any opportunity presented to him until he reached her breasts, covered in a satin and lace bra that created a mouth-watering point curve.

 _Fuck me_  
Was all he could think as all other words had escaped him.

“So” Felicity smiled, lapping up the way he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from her “are you ready to relinquish your control Oliver?”  
She blinked purposefully, her voice set with a calm resolve even though this was about 5 steps to the left of her own comfort zone.

Felicity knew her reasons for this normally out of character forwardness she was presenting to Oliver. Felicity needed to shed _babe_ from her life. That had been what he called her and that had been what she had become, his doting little doormat.

Felicity hated _babe_ and Oliver Queen was going to help her break free from her.  
“What did you have in mind?” he asked, tugging in one brow  
“I already told you that?”  
Oliver swiped his tongue across his bottom lip as he watched her turn and place her jacket over the ottoman, putting on display the very risqué cut of the thong she was sporting, his mind wondered pointedly whether she had been wearing those all day, including the time in her office where a few more inches bent forward he would have…

“Oliver?” she snipped, pulling him back to the present  
“I don’t remember you telling me”  
“Let’s say, we’ll be saving the piano for another time”

She touched her hands to his – the first time their bodies had made any physical contact for days, and it felt like a bolt of lightning coursing through this body, making him nod slowly to her previous request.

“Good, I’m glad” she smiled, his hand still lodged in her as she walked towards the bedroom, the first stars littering in the distance across the cloudy night like a backdrop through the cabin windows.

Silently he followed her, drinking in the visual stimulant each step she took pushed into his engorged shaft before she stopped at the foot of the expansive bed, moving his body slowly to position his legs firm up against the low baseboard.

Her lips hovered just above his, her eyes searching his – looking for nothing in particular, but caught up in them nevertheless. Yes, Oliver Queen was a prime candidate to let her regain a part of herself she had long ago muted.

She pressed a light kiss against his lips, savouring the taste of his bottom lip as she swiped her tongue over it.  
“You’re overdressed” she whispered, the words trapped against his lips as her fingers toyed with the fly of his pants, popping it open  
“I can fix that” Oliver replied, finishing the task she had started by peeling down the zipper  
“You should do that” Felicity hummed, stepping back and turning her attention towards the furniture around the room

Her sudden disinterest in him was a rouse if he was correct and dammit, he hated to admit it, but it was a damn hot one.

“So, if you’re in control, where would you like me?” he asked, slipping the dark slacks down his legs before peeling off the tight grey tee in one swift motion.

Felicity turned, absently licking her lips at the sight presented to her. With a flick of her wrist she waved him to the bed, watching him with expressive eyes as he bowed to her instruction, sitting himself up against the white upholstered wingback headboard, his legs stretched out ahead of him.

“You’re wrong though” Felicity shrugged, dragging a finger along one of the matching drawers  
“About?” Oliver asked curiously  
“About me being in charge, I’m not really”  
“Then who is?”  
Felicity whipped around, her elbows leant against the drawers, her legs crossed seductively out in front of her as her long blonde hair flicked over her shoulder. She simple offered him a knowing smile as she rolled her shoulders.

She danced her fingers across the furniture as she walked towards the walk-in robe, her eyes scouring through the contents as she disappeared from Oliver’s view.

“You have a lot of nice clothes Oliver” she remarked from deep within the room  
“Thank you” Oliver replied quizzically “but I’m a little confused why you’re in there”  
“Why? Are you afraid of what I’ll find?” she laughed, poking her head out of the doorway  
Oliver simply shrugged, his lips folding into an apathetic half smile as his eyes instinctively glanced downward, settling for just a few seconds on the drawer beside the bed where he kept his innermost demons.

Felicity disappeared from view once again as she strolled around the robe, lightly dancing finger tracks over some of the fine wool suits before stopping in front of the tie rack. Despite her analytical desire too, she decided not to count them and instead ran her fingers across a select few until she silently decided on a particularly soft satin silk tie, navy with a paper thin vertical pinstripe three tones lighter running through it.

“Have you ever been tied up before Oliver?” she asked, gently running the silk tie across her palm as she stepped back out into the room  
“I have” Oliver replied simply, adjusting the fluffy white duck down pillow behind him

“Tell me about it” Felicity enquired as she climbed onto the bed, positioning herself on her knees across his lower lap  
Oliver choked back the surprise of her request as his head lifted off the headboard, watching her as she casually ran a finger under her black bra strap which had slipped down her shoulder.

“I don’t think-“  
“What? That I can’t handle hearing about the other woman you’ve slept with? I’m not naïve Oliver, I’m sure you have quite a thick little black book. But I’m not interested in her per sae. Did you enjoy being tied up?”  
“No” he replied bluntly, surprising even himself with his honesty  
“Because?”  
“Because there was no engagement”

Felicity leaned forward, pressing her pelvis hard against his pulsing cock, eliciting a heavy growl emanating from his chest.  
“And do you think you need your hands to engage?” she asked, trailing the soft tie across the back of his hands  
“Sex is a very multifaceted experience, I think it takes all senses to really enjoy it”  
“But you see Oliver, you don’t need to use all your senses, just heighten the ones you do use”

Her plump lips smiled at the end of her sentence as she straightened back up, releasing the pressure against his cock.

“So, do you intend to tie me down soon?” Oliver asked, skating a rogue hand up her smooth thigh  
“No” she replied with a soft toss of her head, whipping her long ponytail gently from one side to the other

“Tying you down doesn’t make you willingly relinquish control, it just steals it from you”  
“So what is it you have in mind?”

Felicity smiled as she threaded the silk tie slowly around his wrists, folding the two ends gently over each other and laying his hands atop his chest, covering over his navel.

“That’s barely a knot” Oliver jested, the silk tie hanging loosely around his wrists  
“I know, the point is not to get you to fight against the binds Oliver, the point is to give yourself over to them. You can get out of that without much effort, but the point of this exercise is that you won’t”

“Wont I?” Oliver smirked, lightly jostling his wrists  
“Well I don’t know, you might, but then I put back on my coat and I leave for the night”  
Oliver huffed his displeasure at even the suggestion of that happening.

“If you move enough to have this tie slip off your wrists, then the night will end”  
“And if I don’t?”  
“Then I won’t leave till you are well and truly engaged Oliver”  
He lightly moved a finger up her thigh, relishing the feeling of the tempered skin she had pressed against him.

“You don’t get to touch me tonight Oliver. Count this as your warning”  
“Okay” he rasped as her fingers scraped up the underside of his mounded shaft

She scooted down his thigh a little, her leg slipping in between his legs and pressing firmly up against his pulsing erection.

“You can speak, smell or taste, but I’ve taken touch off the table, am I clear?” she spoke calmly, her index finger lightly rubbing the clothed tip  
“You’re bossy” Oliver smirked  
“You have no idea” she replied, pulling back the waistband of his briefs to expose his vividly erect shaft

She moved slowly at first, painfully slowly, over the tip of his cock with her finger. He shifted somewhat uncomfortably underneath her as his eyes watched with an unabashed reverence. She blinked her feathered lashed against her milky cheeks as she bent down and placed a sinfully light kiss on the side of his shaft. Her tongue smoothed over the ridge, her eyes watching as he squirmed against the sensation desperate, she assumed, to indulge his hands.

Her hand trickled up his thumping erection, her thumb pressing at the underside, causing a chain reaction of his leg beside her to twitch and his mouth to breath out a heavy sigh.

“First sense you want to explore?” she asked with a half turned smile and an arched brow  
“Sight” Oliver hummed, easing into the new experience  
“Good choice” Felicity commended, sitting up once more and folding her hands behind her back.

She unclipped her bra with ease, tipping the straps of it down her arms before plucking it up between two fingers and dropping it carelessly to the floor.

Oliver swallowed a heavy breath, his tongue peeking out between his closed lips.

Felicity arched her back slightly as the cool air from the vent above danced chilled licks across her exposed breasts, pebbling her nipples almost instantly.  
“What do you see?” she asked  
“Is that a trick question?” Oliver replied, his fingers twitching against the bind  
Felicity’s face lit up with a bright smile that put an ease into the sensuality of the moment.

“At the risk of sounding like a Lion King reference, look harder, what do you see?”  
“You’re aroused”  
She cocked her head to her shoulder giving a breathy smile “I’m cold”  
“Well change the rules, untie me and I’ll make you aroused”  
“Oliver, I don’t doubt you’re very capable with your hands” she swooped forward, her breasts sweeping across his cock, stopping just out of reach of his hands

“But this isn’t about your hands now is it?”  
“No” he replied, almost scolded by her smile  
“So, what do you see?” she asked once more, her palms pushing into his broad chest  
“You have a tiny freckle under your right breast, it’s teasing me” Oliver remarked, his eyes tracking to the little brown tormentor

Felicity smiled, passing out a soft chuckle that made the small freckle dance on her skin. His eyes swooped over her body, falling around the slow curves of her waist and hips.  
“Lose the stockings?” he asked, the question rolling off his tongue like velvet

“Now who’s being bossy?” Felicity laughed, slipping her body off the bed  
“I’m still the one tied up” Oliver nodded down towards his wrists

“Valid point” Felicity replied, unclipping the stocking suspenders and slipping the heels from her feet  
With a speed just above a snail’s pace she rolled the stockings down her legs and slipped each one in succession off her feet.  
“Better?” she asked, walking around the bed to stand beside his face  
“Very” he gravelled

Felicity pursed her lips into a smile as she slipped her toes under his sweltering thigh, balancing her footing as she sauntered back onto the bed, taking up the same position she held earlier, sitting atop one thigh, perched on her knees.

“Still on sight?” Oliver rasped, swallowing hitched breaths webbed in his throat  
“Of sorts” Felicity shrugged, her fingers working up his shaft, so lightly he would not have felt it if he could not see it.

She arched her back over, pressing breathy kisses to just his tip before swiping her tongue across the ridge.  
“Don’t close your eyes” she breathed, short warm breaths against his shaft  
“Why would I cl-“  
His words stopped suddenly when she wrapped her lips around his cock and plunged him deep into her warm and inviting mouth.

“Shit” Oliver cursed pressing his head helplessly into the headboard, willing his eyes not to instinctively close.

He watched her with almost animalistic fervour as her red lips slipped up and down his cock, her tongue sweeping wide lengths across it. His eyes lulled, his head imprinting hard onto the upholstery behind him.  
_Don’t close your eyes_  
Her instructions echoed in his head, snapping his eyes back open.

He was about to lose it, she had barely touched him and he was on the precipice of loosing it completely. His mind toiled with the realisation she would think him a speedster, given the last encounter, and Oliver was anything but...

His mouth was dry and his whole body was dripping with desire. He just needed... _to touch her_. Before he could stop himself his fingers stretched out, stroking her soft hollowed cheek as she was pulling it back up his shaft.

Just the tiniest pad of his finger touched her, but it was like an explosion of the sense that he had been deprived of for what seemed like hours.

Felicity felt it. Of course she felt it. It was like molten hot against her cheek. It was just the smallest of strokes, she could have ignored it, she was after all enjoying the way his thick shaft glided through her mouth. She did enjoy watching the intoxicating level of wanton abandonment that was coursing through the oceanic blue of his eyes.... but she felt it and it was against the rules.

Her tongue made a swoop over his tip, relishing the saltiness of the milky dewdrops that were forming there before she abruptly pulled back, releasing his raging cock with a pop of air.

“I’m sorry” he mumbled, instantly aware of his foible  
“You broke the rules Oliver” she shook her head softly in frustration “I was enjoying that, but you broke the rules”

“How about a three strikes and you’re out rule?” he smiled, fisting his hands to stop himself reaching out to touch the curve of her knee that was sitting teasingly close

Felicity stepped off the bed, tapping her fingers lightly over the curve of her hip as she pondered his suggestion with pouted lips.

“Interesting proposition Oliver” she finally spoke, twisting a finger up his shaft “but I’m not sure you can stick to it”  
She leaned forward, placing her palm onto the space between his legs and pursing her lips scandalously close to his cock.

“I can, I will” he huffed, his eyes flitting with hunger “I just needed to touch you”  
“Why?” she asked simply  
“Because everything comes down to a simple touch”  
She blew softly against his tip, watching with a sense of pride as his abs rolled over the sensation, shuddering involuntarily.

“I told you that you could speak” she breathed, each word dancing closer to his shaft  
“My words aren’t the same as touching you” he protested with down turned brows  
“No, you’re probably right Oliver” she lapped his name with a slow lick across his lower abs, just above his pelvis before she stood upright, a soft smile across her plush lips

Shit was the only word left in his vocabulary and he was about to say it repeatedly out loud when Felicity stepped back, the suspenders from the stockings skirting freely over her ass as she turned on her bare feet and walked towards the door.

“You’re leaving?” he huffed, still aware that his cock was throbbing like a marching band  
“If the tie comes off while I’m out of the room, the night is over” she replied cryptically, her hand poised on the doorframe before she disappeared into the living area and out of view.

It was in the silence of the bedroom that Oliver suddenly realised just how exposed he was, not just physically – although as he glanced down his body with his briefs pushed haphazardly down his thighs, that exposure was clear to see – but he felt vulnerable and exposed in a way that was different. Felicity had read him like a book, his desperate desire to control whatever situation he put himself in.

Oliver Queen never walked into a room without scoping it out first. He always knew his surroundings, he always had a plan, he always knew his audience and he – _always_ – was the one with the power.

But he hadn’t even really put up a fight when Felicity took that away from him, in fact seeing as he was lying in a position he could easily rectify and yet chose not to, seemed to prove that he had handed Felicity the power willingly.

“Good to see you stayed put, I was beginning to wonder about your commitment” Felicity spoke from the doorway snapping Oliver back to the moment

He was about to ask where she had gone when his eyes honed in on the object held between her hands as she walked around to the other side of the bed.

“Is that..” he started to say, his voice trailing off as the moonlight from outside the windows cast a mesmeric shadow across Felicity’s naked back as she sat down with it facing him.

He watched her as she slid back a few feet and lay her head onto his chest, her legs curved around her back, laying herself horizontally across the expanse of the soft white linen.

Oliver finally made sense of what was in her hands as she brought it up to her mouth a bit down.  
“Is that a sandwich?” he laughed, revelling in the feel of her hair against the back of his hand  
She rolled her head across his tensed abs to blink up at him.  
“It is, it’s pastrami. You want some?” she asked, holding the sandwich closer to his mouth  
He looked at her quizzically, wondering what question he should ask first.  
“You left me, like this, to make a sandwich?”  
“Technically I left you, like this” she smacked her lips into a smile “because you broke the rules. I just decided to make a sandwich while I was wondering what to do about it”

She took another bite, her eyes showing her delight in the flavour of it.  
“Where did you even get that from? Did you bring a sandwich with you?”  
“I brought the ingredients with me”  
“Who does that?” Oliver laughed, the absurdity that they were having this discussion while he was sitting naked on a bed with his hands bound and a topless Felicity was sprawled out on the bed with her head lying over his chest was not lost on him

“Proper nutrition is important Oliver” she remarked before he took another few small bites  
_A sandwich_.  
An insanely gorgeous almost completely naked woman was lying on his bed eating a pastrami sandwich like it was completely normal.  
_A goddamn sandwich._  
“You’re remarkable” he sighed, the words accidently spilling from his mouth when he only meant them to remain in his head.

She smiled softly, her red lips looking like a innocently happy place for his own to land.  
“Thank you for remarking on it”

She blinked soft lashes at him, the two silently letting the moment that was as pure as it was refreshing to just settle between them.

“Now where were we?” she asked after finishing her last bite  
“I think I was in trouble” Oliver smiled  
“Ah yes, that” she pondered, deliberately drawing out each word as she spoke it “I suppose everyone deserves a second chance”

She sliced across his lap, this time sitting on the opposite thigh, her other leg now pressed into his crotch, her hand taking tenement around his cock.

Oliver watched as she slowly worked her hand up and down his shaft, rolling her thumb heavily against the ridge of it as she skated her index finger over the tip. His hands were clenched, his knuckles almost white, as the insatiable desire to just _touch_ her was once again becoming almost impossible to ignore.

“Speak” she sighed with a breathy moan  
“I just” he licked his lips “touch” he rasped as she clenched a fist tighter around him making the blood rush to his pulsing cock

“You can’t touch Oliver, but you can speak”  
“My words, they’re not enough” he growled  
Felicity leant down, crushing his cock against her chest which pulled a heavy sigh from across his lips as she placed a delicate kiss against his twitching hands.

She had to admit, she had expected him to break within minutes of her first issuing the challenge. The mental restraint he was trying to engage was fascinating to her.

Anyone could be bound to a bed, unable to move, fighting and pulling against the binds with no hope of releasing themselves from them – but it took an exceptional amount of willpower to be _physically able_ to remove the obstacle in the path of what you want and yet _choosing_ not to, knowing that the instant gratification of getting what you want would take away the delayed reward for not.

Felicity smiled to herself when she realised she was, to some degree, conducting her very own _Sexual Stanford Marshmallow Experiment._

“But I have hands Oliver, you can use your words to direct them” she breathed before smoking a feathering of kisses across the silk tie  
“That’s allowed?”  
Felicity sat up and tipped her head slightly to her shoulder.  
“Of course Oliver, it’s even encouraged”

Oliver had not been one for pillow talk, in fact more often than not he found the act to be false and insincere – likely due to the fact most of the girls he had slept with he had no interest in seeing again and lying by saying he did seemed a step lower than Oliver wished to place himself. But Felicity presented him with something much more enthralling, something much more to his liking.

“You’ll do as I ask”  
“Provided it doesn’t break the rules”  
“Kiss me” he smiled  
Felicity looked down at his cock still gripped in her palms and shook her head softly.  
“I knew you were going to ask for that, guys and blow jobs” she shrugged, leaning her body down  
“No, I mean on my lips”  
Felicity sat up, surprised that the first thing he had asked for – given the almost free reign she’d offered – was for something as innocent as a kiss on the lips.

“You said taste was an important sense, I want to taste your lips” he sighed, pushing his tongue lightly through the seam of his own lips  
He swallowed as her hand released his cock and settled around his wrists, holding the tie firm against his skin as she lifted his hands and walked her body down his.

She pressed his willing hands above his head, flush against the headboard to ensure he didn’t try to break the rules for a second time, before her lips came to settle on his.

Oliver breathed in, tasting the berry lip gloss that was still stained to her lips despite the food she had just eaten. He closed his eyes, letting his sense fall down into the feel of her pillowed lips, they were like how he imagined clouds felt, soft, ethereal.

The feel of her nose gently pressing in against the side of his own, rolling back and forth in time with the rhythm her lips set.

Her breath was warm and light against his skin.

With his mind fully focused on the sensual way her lips felt, tasted, smelt even, he didn’t miss his hands. He was lost in the enchantment and finally he understood what she had been getting at.

Felicity pulled away slowly, letting his lips ghost over hers for just a few seconds before his eyes opened again and she began to lower his hands back down.

“Leave them up there” Oliver requested, the fact he could no longer see them so close to her body actually making the task so much easier to focus on  
She nodded, that was perfectly acceptable.

She slid up his body a little more, his cock now pressed into the satin panties she was wearing. Felicity could feel each involuntary twitch his shaft was making as she bore her body down against him and the smile brimming across her face was testimony to her enjoyment of it.

“Touch your neck” Oliver spoke his eyes narrowing on her  
Felicity lay a flat palm to the side of her neck, her little finger skimming her cheek as her other fingers tucked behind her ear  
“Just the middle finger”  
Oliver watched with hungry eyes as Felicity complied, folding the others down.  
“Slowly move it down your neck” his voice was quiet, gravel caught in his tone

Felicity’s finger moved slowly as he asked, stopping at the tip of her sternum.  
“Down between your breasts”  
Her finger glided slowly down the path, her palm ghosting over her naked breast, the sensation of it causing her to exhale a soft mewl.

Oliver’s mouth opened his eyes visualising the way her breast would feel in his mouth, the way he would gently roll her nipple with his tongue, making her gasp just as she had moments before.

“Bring your breast to my lips” he issued, his words becoming more confident now “I want to taste your body”

She slinked her way up his body, her tempered heat now pressing against his chest as she splayed a palm out onto the headboard and leaned her body closer.  
“Massage underneath it”  
Felicity silently obliged, cupping her own breast and gently rocking her palm underneath it. Oliver raised his chin, grazing her breast as his tongue swept over it before his lips could move in around it.

He took her breast into his mouth, it tasted just as he had imagined it would. Like the soft scent of something floral it reminded him of orchids or lilies. It was soft, like a marshmallow encased in silk. It was hands down the most engulfing feeling he’d ever had.

He could feel her heavy pants breathing down the back of his neck as her head drooped down.  
“Are you wet?” he ask, feathering short kisses to her pebbled nipple  
“Would you like me to check?” she asked slyly, dropping her head further down in close to his ear  
“No let me check” he hummed  
“No hands Oliver” she smirked  
“I don’t mean with my hands. Let me feel you’re wetness on my chest”  
Felicity snatched her bottom lip between her teeth with a grin as she sat up. Oliver was definitely embracing this little experiment in a way that almost made _her_ want to yank the tie from around his wrists and just let him go to town. But she resisted, this was an experiment for her as much as it was for him.

She peeled back the black panties, her fingers lightly touching between her folds and the dewy warmth of her heat.  
“Roll your hips, let me” he sighed watching as she started to do as he asked “let me feel you”  
She spread herself against him, the ridges of his chest cool against her sweltering heat despite the veil of sweat that was covering them.  
“Shit” Oliver rasped, pushing his head further into the propped up pillow, the sensation paired with watching her do it was more gratifying than he had anticipated

“You are” he huffed, scraping his teeth over his open lips  
“I am”  
“Put me inside you” he urged, lifting his own hips underneath her to press his cock against her ass  
She slid against it in response, making him curse a few more times.

Oliver didn’t even miss his hands anymore, the heightened way every other nerve in his body was reacting to her was beyond what his hands could accomplish right now.

Felicity pushed her body down his, gliding over his cock as it slipped between her folds. She lifted up slightly on her knees, taking the pulsing shaft into her hands and hovering it around in circles by her entrance.  
“Is this what you want?”  
Oliver nodded his eyes blinking rapidly as he could feel her juices lightly coating his tip.  
“Is this was you need?” Felicity ask, pushing no more than a quarter inch of him inside her  
“Yes” Oliver stilted the word  
“Then what’s the magic word?”  
“Please, god, please Felicity” he panted, the desperation leaking through his tone

Felicity smiled triumphantly – over what specifically she wasn’t sure, but just to see the expression that was cast across his face right now was worth the celebration.

She slowly worked her body down, adjusting herself around him as she worked him deeper, slowly but steadily taking him all in. Oliver was certain he was going to explode right then and there, the way she eased him in gave him time to experience her walls gripping in against him. He could feel ever half inch, ever second. The warmth, the slight movements, the tightness that surrounded him. It was fast becoming all too much for him to stifle his release.

“Shit, shit, yes, please” he didn’t even realise the words were coming from his mouth as she rocked gently, pushing him in deeper until there was nothing more to take

Felicity’s chest was rising and falling with a quickened pace, the gradual entrance was stealing her breath in the most amazing of ways. She didn’t’ say it, but her mind echoed Oliver’s curses. His cock was hard and slick inside her and when she rolled her hips the result was something amazing.

“Felicity I want you to..” he started before she slammed her palm into the headboard, her breast scraping against his chest  
“Experiment is over Oliver” she moaned, desperate now to let him touch the fire building under her skin as she ripped the tie from around his wrist.

Oliver didn’t hesitate, his hands instantly coming to rest on her hips as his lips snapped up to capture hers.

He rocked with her as she rolled back and forth, crushing his cock between her walls as they clambered lips across each other, hot and heavy.

He nudged her head to the side as he pressed languid and hot kisses into her neck, drinking up the soft whimpers in his ear that she made as he thrust himself gently upward.

Faster they moved in sync, his hands pressed firmly into her hips, his fingers massaging into her ass as she glided back and forth, relishing the way every few repetitions Oliver would push himself up, making her whole body shake with the sensation.

He could feel her walls crashing in around him as his lips skated back to hers, hungry to taste her once more, their tongues battled each other with hot and breathy cries as they roamed through each other’s mouths, offering and taking what they wanted and what the other needed.

It was in that moment that Oliver almost found himself begging to release the words he knew he couldn’t. As he felt her body shake and he knew she was nearing her release he wanted to grab her face between his hands, stare into the bright blue doe eyes filled with wonderment and tell her he loved her.

The instant he thought it he scalded himself. Oliver was not a romantic, Oliver didn’t tell girls he been with only a few times that he loved them. Oliver didn’t fall hard and fast and heavy. He realised quickly that he was right to some extent – only, those things were things Ollie didn’t do – for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, he finally felt like Oliver was enough, Oliver was okay – Oliver could love.

But he didn’t say it – even when Felicity pulled back to look him in his eyes as she fell over the precipice into her release just moments before Oliver followed – he didn’t say it. Felicity had taken that off the table and Oliver was certain that his desire to say it was only due to that fact.

Like his hands desperate to touch her had been that way only because she had removed that ability, he was certain his desire to confess his love was based on the same principle.

So he didn’t say a thing, but that didn’t stop his head from thinking it as she blinked in slow motion at him, her lips dancing over each breath she took. Oliver didn’t stifle the words in his mind I think _I’m falling for you._

Felicity watched as she felt him release inside her, she saw his eyes tick over in thought and for a moment she wished he would say whatever they were, but she would let him have his silent thoughts, just as she had her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because all too often it's Felicity saying please.... I thought Oliver should this time ;)


	8. The Catch-up

Oliver felt the slight dip of the bed and the tug of the sheet which lay across his naked body as Felicity slowly slipped out from under his arm. He watched her silhouette in the darkened room as she floated to the edge of the bed and sat up, slowly rolling her legs out from under the covers and dancing a hand into her handbag which sat atop the bedside table as she mumbled something about her glasses.

He watched her stand slowly and pad around the foot of the bed with her bag clutched tightly to her naked chest.

As her hand reached for the door handle Oliver sat up on his elbows   
“Are you leaving?” he asked  
Felicity jumped back in surprise at the sudden intrusion of his voice into the thick curtain of silence that the room had been in moments before.

Her hands shot up to her mouth, promptly dropping her opened bag and sending the contents of the same spilling across the blackened floor.  
“Holy Hell, what the actual frack?” she crowed as she clutched her hand to her heart

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Oliver replied, tapping the lamp beside the bed on with three quick taps  
Felicity stood at the foot of the bed, stunned and completely naked for just a few moments until she pulled the grey mink throw off the bed and held it up against her chest

“So I guess there goes my nice and quiet exit” she smiled, hopping anxiously from one foot to the other before she crouched and began to gather the things that had spilled from her handbag

“So you were intending on leaving?” Oliver asked as he slipped from the bed and helped her collect her things  
She looked up, batting her eyelashes rapidly at the impressive cut of his naked form. She swallowed the lump formed in the back of her throat as she held the blanket tighter against her body – unaware that the sides were spilling open and her ass was – once again – on display in Oliver’s bedroom

“It’s just better that I go” she replied   
“I don’t snore”  
“It’s not that”  
“Why then?”  
His eyes skimmed over her, his lips turning up at the corners when he spied the sweet arch of her back and ass

“Please don’t look at me like that” she spoke as she stood up and pulled the corner of the throw under her arm and fastening it tightly around her body  
“What is with the blanket?” Oliver asked, standing also, unashamed at his starkness

“What’s with the not…blanket” she quipped back  
“Is that an actual question?”

“You were here last night right?” he smiled stepping into her space, a light finger tapping her shoulder “I saw all of you, quite up close and personal”  
He leaned in, whispering the last few words with a hot breath against her neck  
“I’m aware” she nodded, stepping back as she felt and instant wave of heat pass between them  
“I just think there is a big difference between being naked for” she paused, wiping a finger across her furrowed brow as she searched for the right words “what we did last night and standing like this” she paused again “butt naked”

Oliver stood silently watching her as she brushed stray strands of hair off her face and sucked her lip in against her teeth.

“So anyway, I have my bag” she leaned down and collected it off the floor “so I’ll go get my coat and um” she fumbled words before scratching her head and pointing towards the door “Go, I’ll just go”

Felicity headed towards the door, slipping passed Oliver with her cheeks blushing a fierce shade of red. Oliver’s hand reached for Felicity’s arm, swooping in around her wrist instead. She twisted slightly to gaze back towards him.

“Why don’t you stay” he spoke as neither a question nor a demand  
“Oliver” she spoke his name through an exhale “I don’t think that’s a good idea”  
“Because?”  
“Because, I’m not the kind of girl you’ll wake up to in the morning, that’s too” she paused, tugging in her bottom lip “complicated. I like us uncomplicated. This is for the best”

“It hasn’t been ten minutes”  
Felicity huffed through a slight smile, her brow crinkling in the middle with an edge of confusion.  
“I’m not following” she finally spoke, her dark lashes blinking haphazardly onto her porcelain skin  
“You said we had to consider something for ten minutes before saying no”

She stiffened her back and relaxed her face into a soft smile.  
“I see” she replied as she dropped her head to her shoulder “you know my answer will be the same in ten minutes as it is now”

“That sounds distinctively like you’re cheating Felicity. Rules are rules” he was smiling with one of the dopiest smiles she had seen in a long time

Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but no words were forthcoming – she was clear out of a quip to hand him back.

“I could compromise on that rule” Oliver smiled, his thumb idly stroking the underside of her wrist  
“Every man has his price” she shrugged “so, what’s yours?”  
“Tell me something I don’t know about you”  
“Oliver, there is an awful lot you don’t know about me. We barely know each other” she replied  
“Then it shouldn’t be hard”

Felicity folded her lips inward and considered what he was asking – it shouldn’t have been difficult, there were about a million inane things she could tell Oliver that would come under his umbrella of ‘ _things he didn’t know about her_ ’ but for some reason his azure blue eyes seemed to be tugging at her deepest recesses and she did – for a split moment – consider telling him something much deeper than she should.

“I’m an only child” she replied, settling on the truth that was neither inane or deep – it just was  
Oliver stepped back, dropped her wrist from his hand and smiled.  
“See, that wasn’t so hard was it? You can go if you _want_ to”

She caught the inference in his sentence – it wasn’t particularly well hidden.   
“It’s just for the best” she replied, stepping another small, hesitant step towards the door  
“You said that already” Oliver smiled, hovering his hand inches away from her waist  
She leaned in, taking his lips softly onto hers, folding her plush lips around his bottom lip.

He sighed with just a breath as his lips closed over her top lip and his tongue gently swept over the dip of her cupids bow. Just the tops of his fingers lightly walked up her sides, leaving a wake of goose bumps on her skin hidden by the blanket.

He tasted like a warm autumn afternoon – slightly unpredictable but beautifully calming.  
He tasted like everything _he_ once did.  
He tasted like something she could fall for.  
He tasted like _danger_.

She swallowed his taste, enjoying it for a second longer than she should before she pulled back, her lips quivering in the small space between them as she thought about breaking her own final rule – if only for a minute. Her mind slapped her heart with a thunderous clap when she realised what she was thinking.

“Goodbye Oliver” she exhaled, letting her lips form slowly over his name “thank you for last night”  
“Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked, his fingers folding through a lose wave of hair at her cheek

Felicity considered saying no – fearing perhaps that she had misjudged precisely how strong her resolve was to reject all forms of loving affection for fear she would lose herself once again. But instead she nodded, heavily and purposefully, she would see him tomorrow – because she wanted to.

* * *

 

**Day 29: Cruising the Pacific Ocean**

There had been another 3 weeks of ‘tomorrows’ and the promises of more to come, interspersed with days where there were no ‘tomorrows’ but a few ‘day afters’ as Felicity and Oliver manoeuvred through work and indecision.

Felicity sat at her desk watching the minutes click closer to midday. She had no reason to study it, she was on duty for another two hours so it wasn’t like the magical click over into the afternoon was her ticket out of there, but she watched it regardless. She had already taken too many calls from people who didn’t understand simple computing and her patience was beyond waning.

A knock on the door snapped her from the daze she had inadvertently found herself in.  
“Come in” she replied automatically  
“Shouldn’t you check who it is first?” Oliver smiled as he slinked in and closed the door behind him  
“It’s the IT department, it’s not exactly top secret down here” she shrugged, pushing her chair back from desk, a sudden image of Tommy’s make out session that had occurred on that same solid desk a month ago flicking into her mind  
“What were you thinking about?” Oliver asked, dragging the tips off his fingers across the edge of the desk  
“About Tommy”  
”Should I be jealous?”  
“I mean, if it wasn’t for his insatiable womanising” she tapped the desk as she stood “we might not have met”  
“That’s a terrible thing to consider” Oliver smiled as he folded his arms around her waist, pulling her with a jolt against his chest “I would have never learnt the absolute pleasurable torment of looking but not touching you”  
Oliver pressed his hungry lips against her cheek, dotting a path down till they snapped up her beautifully plump lips.  
“I would like to think I would have still met you” he breathed against her dewy lips as they slowly pulled apart  
Felicity cocked her head backwards, narrowing her eyes as she looked up at him.  
“You don’t believe in fate” she smiled  
“No, but I believe in the inevitable. I’m supposed to know you Felicity” his hand skated up her leg, gently easing under the hem of the black and white skirt which skimmed her mid-thigh as he turned her, his foot kicking back her chair.

Felicity’s hands gripped the edge of the polished desk, her knuckles whitening as her back arched against the heavy push of the same into the small of her back. Oliver caught the small hot gasp from her mouth as his lips crashed onto hers.

She moaned into his mouth as he lifted her onto the desk and his fingers twisted around the waistband of her panties, tugging them gently as she pawed under the soft stretch fabric of his black tee.

She could feel her leg stance widening as he stepped his bulky presence in between them and his large hands racked across her body, touching her skin with such an inflamed heat that she was certain her clothes were about to combust.

“I want to. Here” he panted into her neck as his teeth lightly nibbled the delicate skin there  
She should refused, rejected this advance but as her clothes suddenly felt restrictive and the ache between her legs got stronger she threw out any and all inhibitions and nodded keenly.

She was just about to open her mouth to assure Oliver of her willingness to comply with his idea when there was a heavy and fast knock on a door.

With a force she didn’t realise she possessed, Felicity pushed Oliver backwards and then in a hurried, snap decision she forced his large and imposing frame down towards the space under the desk. He looked at her with disbelief to the idea that he would fit in those confines, but she didn’t relent silently ordering him with her expressive eyes to get under the desk.

The space, miraculously, took his size as Oliver folded himself into it with his knees tucked up to his chest and his arms folded around them.

Felicity flopped onto her chair and scooted it as far forward as she could, closing in around Oliver before she hurriedly spoke   
“Come in” she rasped

Oliver heard the door open and then close with a heavy thud.  
“I thought you might be lonely” a vaguely familiar voice to Oliver said, stepping with a heavy scuff  
“No Martin, I’m fine, your shift doesn’t start for another two hours” Felicity replied, almost tersely which made Oliver smile when he clicked that it was the weird redhead that led Oliver to believe he and Felicity were romantically linked.

Oliver held back a loud huff, he still had a bone to pick with that guy.

Oliver heard a chair on the other side of the desk scrape against the floor as he assumed Martin struggled to get the hint and sat down.

“Martin, I’m busy, you can leave”  
“You don’t look busy”  
Oliver rolled his eyes; how he thought for a minute that this guy and Felicity were an item...his eyes sudden snapped to Felicity’s legs and the dull drone of the conversation going on in the room faded to white noise.

He licked his lips as he hesitantly touched the lightest of prints to her thigh. He watched her shift minutely in her chair. She felt like silk, soft, handwoven, the finest of silks ever known to a man’s touch. His lips feathered against the inside crease of her knee and he felt his whole body moan with the taste of it.

She kicked her black pumps at him, catching him blindly in the chest and drawing his attention down to her feet. Oliver smiled widely, a full set of teeth and a heavy glint of mischief caught in his eyes. He loved her feet, he had yet to explore them fully but when they spent evenings together he had found his vision drawn to them, especially when she walked around in heels that made her smooth round ankle pop out and tease him.

Martin was discussing something about data collation when Oliver decided to indulge a fantasy he had been nursing for some time. He peeled off her shoe, garnering a slight shuffle in her chair. His hands roamed across her foot, it was incredibly soft and a little warm to the touch.

_Fuck_ was all he could think, it felt more erotic in his hands than he ever imagined it could. Without caring for the circumstance or the surrounding he brought her bare foot to his lips and gingerly placed a heavy kiss on the inner arch of it.

_Double Fuck._  
She tasted amazing, her thin veil of skin was like velveteen under his lips and tasted like warmed honey. His lips walked across to bridge of her foot, heading down the slope of it towards her stiffening toes. Her other foot was digging wildly into his ribs but the sensation did nothing to dampen his lust.

Before he fully realised it himself he was sucking on her big toe, humming pleasure reverberations onto it as his free hand pressed a driven palm up her thigh. He could hear her voice pitching and she had stopped kicking him, perhaps lulling into the pleasure of this new sensation.

“I was hoping I could pick your brain about bouncing a signal like that...” Martin began, leaning his hefty forearms onto the lip of the desk  
“Not a good time” Felicity sighed, a faint moan following her final word as she melted into the feeling of Oliver’s warm and wet mouth folding in voyeuristically around her toes.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck_  
It was a completely new indulgence and one she had not thought to entertain, but it felt fucking amazing and she was barely controlling the heatwave that was flushing her body pink and making her heat brim.

It was as though Oliver was reading her thoughts as a rogue finger swiped between her legs, pushing the light cotton fabric of her panties in against her soaking lips. She almost jumped from her seat when his finger slipped passed the fabric and sunk into her.

She bit her lip, hard, to stifle the screams.   
“Are you okay?” Martin asked, rising from his chair  
“I’m fine” she groaned through a clenched jaw as Oliver’s tongue licked over her toes and his finger swam around her wet entrance

Her hand jerked involuntarily, knocking the holder and spilling pens across the desk. She smacked Martin’s hand much harder than she intended to when he reached to help collect the pens.  
“Just go, you need to go” she panted, trying to stem the start of what she was positive was an orgasm   
“I can just...”  
“Martin, get the fuck out”

He looked like a wounded puppy but he back away and disappeared out the door. The instant the door clicked closed Felicity threw her chair backwards and leapt to her feet, pulling her foot swiftly from Oliver’s hold.

“What the fuck Oliver?” she quipped, balancing her bare foot on the tip of her toes to equal the height difference   
“You didn’t enjoy that?” he winked as he clambered out from under the desk  
“That is not the point” she huffed, running a nervous finger down the arm of her glasses as Oliver, licking his lips, moved forward towards her  
“I think it is” he breathed, his lips shadowing the words just above hers  
“You could have me fired” she sighed, relaxing her body against his  
“Good, then we would never have to leave my room and my mouth can traverse your entire body” he kissed the words with wet lips against the underside of her ear “at least half a dozen times, slowly”   
“You should go” she smiled, swallowing a heavy hitch at the back of her throat  
“I don’t want to” he replied, drawing his thumb along her collarbone

The closeness of his body to hers was altogether engulfing and tantalising. A part of her was steaming, twitching to rip that tee from his body, wrap her legs around him and let him just ravish her, but she was at work and despite her desire to _fuck it_ she was not going to be _that_ girl.

“Goodbye Oliver” she breathed as she nodded towards the door  
Oliver’s eyes tracked towards the door, he nodded and then looked back at her. He would go, soon.

“Felicity I want to suck your feet and press my fingers inside you again, until your body is a quivering for something more and then I want to spread your legs and bury my tongue inside you. Tasting you on my lips and smelling you against me. I want to make you orgasm, hard and fast where you scream my name and then I want to carry you to the shower and watch you ride through the orgasm under a peppering of warm water. Can I do that?” he spoke with a coy smile, his tone completely serious

It was a question, but Felicity doubted he would take no for an answer and honestly, she wasn’t going to give no for an answer either.

“I finish in two hours” she hummed, almost breathless   
“I’ll see you in two hours. Wear those shoes” he winked as he reached the door

_Fuck_.  
She just nodded, slowly and deliberately.

* * *

  
She was an hour early, after calling Martin back and explaining that her behaviour was interlinked with her _time of the month_. He had been so utterly grossed out as she started to outline the facts about her uterus shredding it’s lining that he’d gladly offered to cover the last hour of her shift.

She hadn’t been able to focus on anything except what Oliver has promised and it had been causing her sex to boil and her desire to flourish. Simply put she was horny.

Felicity knocked without reservation, probably a little more hurried than she had intended. It seemed like a lifetime before the door cracked open and she was met with that ridiculously handsome face looking at her with a dash of surprise.

She pushed passed him without a word and crossed her arms over at her waist, fluidly removing the scoop neck top from her body, throwing it playfully at his face.

He went to speak as he closed the door with a tap of his foot.   
“You want the shoes left on now?” she asked, reaching to the side of her skirt and tugging down the zip   
“Felicity wait”  
“Your tongue better be as glorious as you claim it to be because you’ve built this up Oliver Queen and honestly I will be pissed if you fail this vagina” she laughed, letting her skirt drop down her legs

“I mean that first time you went down on me was fantastic, but I’m expecting more this time, you know that right?” she was speaking fast as she kicked her skirt to one side

She walked around the table, oblivious to the open laptop and the papers scattered across it.  
“Where do you want to start this thing? Bra on or off?” she asked, her legs taking a tented stance in front of the table as she played with the clasp of her bra

“Felicity you really-“ Oliver started, his hand reaching for her  
“Okay, you want to do it, fine, I’ll stop. Just hold me down and...”  
Oliver’s hand came crashing down over Felicity’s mouth.  
“Felicity you need...”  
“You want it a little rough?” she questioned, pulling his arm down with both her hands

“You should really let him speak dear” came a clear and well spoken female voice from behind Felicity  
Oliver’s face grimaced as Felicity snapped her head over her shoulder and finally noticed the open laptop, the face of a perfectly primped older woman with softly waved blonde hair and peached lips.

Felicity couldn’t find words as her mind scrambled to gather all intel and piece together exactly what was happening.

“Oh god” she squeaked, realising her lace panties and most of her bare ass was on display  
She dropped to the ground, spreading her legs awkwardly as she tried to catch her breath.

“Felicity, this is my mother, Moira Queen. Mom this is my girlfriend, Felicity Smoak”  
Felicity peered up from the floor as Oliver wrapped a nearby jacket around her body.  
“Hello, uh, Mrs Queen” Felicity spoke nervously, her words almost forming a question as she stood and pressed the jacket closely to her body

“Was that a question dear? Mrs Queen is correct, my husband, Oliver’s father is still very much alive and in the picture” Moira remarked, her tone neither cheerful nor belittling  
“Oh yes, sorry, I um” Felicity was floundering with her words so much she hadn’t notice Oliver referring to her as his _girlfriend_

“I’ll leave you to your company son” Moira smiled “nice to meet you Miss Smoak”  
“Bye Mom, we’ll talk soon” Oliver smiled before ending the Skype call and folding the laptop closed

“You couldn’t warn me before I started to strip?” Felicity sighed her hand pressed over her eyes   
“I tired but you-“  
“Oh god I talked about my vagina” she gasped, her hand slipping down her face and clamping around her mouth  
“Well I hope I don’t fail that beautiful body part of yours” Oliver winked, closing the distance between them in barely three steps  
“Oh no, we can’t”  
She shook her head almost violently.  
“Because?”  
“Because your mother is going to know you’re banging the floozy that just paraded half naked around your cabin”  
Felicity began pacing, unaware that the jacket was only covering her front and oblivious to the grin that trickled onto Oliver’s face as a result.

“It’s okay Felicity, that won’t be particularly surprising to her” his fingers stroked down her spine before his palm massaged in against her ass cheek.  
She slapped him away as she pursed her lips.  
“No, you need to call her back and I” she started picking up her skirt “I need to go, so she knows we’re not sleeping together”  
“But we are sleeping together, in at least so far as the term relates to having sex”  
She shot him a terse look of narrowed eyes and a raised brow.  
“Your mother doesn’t need to know that” she replied as she pulled on her skirt and yanked up the zipper  
“We’re adults” Oliver laughed  
“That is hardly the point” Felicity snorted, tugging on her top in the most awkward of ways, her arms flailing for a moment before she pulled in down fully.

“Felicity, honestly this isn’t anything to be worried about” he smoothed a gentle stroke down her arm  
“Oliver, I met you mother in my underwear talking about having sex with her son, this is as mortifying as it can get. I never intended to meet your mother, ever, let alone under those circumstances, I need to leave”

_Never intended to meet your mother, ever_ the words struck a chord with Oliver, drilling home the expiry date on this relationship – if that term could be used. It was never Felicity’s intention that this go further than the numbered days of this cruise.

“Are we still on for dinner tonight?” he asked without watching her walk to the door  
“Yeah, I’ll see you at six thirty” Felicity replied, her hand perched on the door handle and her eyes bearing down on Oliver’s back  
“See you then Felicity” Oliver agreed, the once wistful tone in his voice completely vanished  
Felicity nodded to empty space before she opened the door and left.

* * *

  
It was just after six thirty when Felicity found herself, dressed in a particularly fetching red cocktail dress with a remarkably daring scooped back and an equally as daring thigh-high split, sitting at restaurant table waiting for Oliver.

There was at least three occasions in the seven minutes since she had sat down that she considered leaving again. It was ridiculous and she knew it. They had been sleeping together at almost every opportunity afforded to them, and she was absolutely certain they were compatible in that way. Just thinking about it made her cheek flush pomegranate red under the dim warm light of the restaurant. Her history was not extensive – if she was honest it was pretty damn bare, no pun intended – but Oliver brought something out in her and he brought something equally as exciting to the table. Her sudden nervous nature was nothing to do with sex. That was firmly ticked in indelible marker.

There was something else. Something she had been trying to avoid.  
She had seen it in his eyes and caught it in her own reflection.  
She found her lips ruminating over the idea that perhaps she had been wrong, that perhaps she had heard his words wrong moments after leaving his room...  
 _This is my girlfriend, Felicity Smoak_   
She hadn’t let it register straight away, those embarrassing moments with his mother taking precedent. It was only when she had been walking the halls alone with bright red flushed cheeks that it had sunk in. Oliver had referred to her as his _girlfriend_. Felicity hadn’t planned on becoming a _girlfriend_.

In moments of clarity she realised Oliver couldn’t have referred to her as “Felicity Smoak, the girl I’m having great sex with”; she settled that he had used the term solely for his mother’s benefit, he didn’t actually feel that way, _right_? The question she posed herself had had an unexpected reaction when she found herself feeling a little sad that he may not have meant it....

_Shit, fuck, shit_ she was beginning to see that this was not going as she had loosely planned it.  
She had taken feelings off the table, because she needed to be separated from the result of them, but she was not so foolish to not notice that they were becoming harder to ignore.  
 _Maybe she had been wrong._  
 _Maybe..._

“Sorry I’m late” he breathed softly down her neck, placing a delicate kiss against her silken cheek “I got tied up on a phone call”  
Felicity’s head swayed softly at the way every word that rolled off his tongue was spoken. She hated herself for it, but honestly she would listen to him reading the dictionary and thoroughly enjoy it.

“It’s not a problem, I haven’t been waiting long” she finally replied when the speckled goose bumps his voice had spiked down her shoulder disappeared   
“Everything okay?” she asked, watching him unbutton his charcoal grey suit jacket and sit in the chair opposite her as the two of them faded into the background of the dim lights and secluded corner setting

“Absolutely” he replied with a soft tip of his head and a wash of a smile.  
The truth was he had finally called the number on a plain white card his mother had given him months ago. It was the number of a private sponsor – a sober companion. Moira Queen was the only person on the face of the planet that didn’t act like Oliver didn’t have a problem.

While some, like his father, glossed over it – assuming wrongly that Oliver’s ability to maintain and conduct his business affairs was indicative of him keeping well enough together; and others, like Tommy, inadvertently encouraged it – playing under the false economy that Oliver just needed to be _happy_ and if drugs made him _happy_ then so be it. Moira Queen fell into neither of those camps.

She fought with and for Oliver, despite sharing in the same tragedy that afflicted him. She had pushed him before it all to get help. He had scoffed at it, resented her for it and blatantly ignored her plea. Afterwards, she had begged him and fought with him over it; but he had rejected her at every turn, dialling it up till everything stopped _feeling_ – because feeling anything, hurt.

Unwittingly Felicity was beginning to change that perception he held. Oliver had refrained from taking anything not prescribed to him; due, in part, because he feared that she would either notice or find them but also because he had found himself preoccupied enough that he had not succumb to his lurking addiction.

It had been late last night, when they had walked the long way back to her cabin and he had seen the light of the heavy white moon caught in her smiling eyes that he had finally had the epiphany that he no longer wanted to be _Ollie Queen_. That he wanted to be more – for himself, for his mother, for Felicity and for _her_ – because that’s what they all deserved.

He had phoned his mother to finally admit she had been right and he was ready to accept the help she had sourced for him. That had been what they were discussing when Felicity had arrived early. After she left, Oliver tried not to dwell on the words that had hit him hard, focusing instead of following through with the promise he had made to himself and openly to his mother.

He needed help. He was ready to accept it.

He had found the number buried amongst a host of forgotten numbers and he called it. John Diggle was his name and it had been one of the most brutally clarifying conversations Oliver had ever had. John didn’t pull his punches; didn’t sugar coat the truth or the journey. There was no placid stroking of Oliver’s ego as was often the case.

He had told him in no uncertain words that the start of all of this was honesty. Oliver had to admit he had a problem, to himself and to anyone else he wished to be in his life.

It was a decision Oliver toyed with each step he took between his cabin and the restaurant. He had flipped from one decision to the other multiple times, but when he had reached the door and saw her, a halo of blond hair brushed over her shoulder like fine woven silk and her lips pouted over a thought trapped in her mind he had finally settled on a decision. He would tell her – she deserved to know.

Oliver was unsure if this broke her final rule. If opening up to her in this way would scare her away and he would lose what had undoubtedly being a presence that was both cathartic and encapsulating – unlike any past relationship. There was something remarkable about Felicity – he didn’t _just_ see her beautiful lips or the curve of her legs that had him spinning at the thought of them – he saw her as a whole, as a person – something he had not seen for a long time.

He watched her finger as it drove slowly back and forth over the menu and her bottom lip stayed pulled in against her teeth as her eyes darted across the page. He had wanted to wait, to tell her when the moment felt right, when he could carefully consider each and every word that would inevitably spill from his mouth – but watching her now, he couldn’t prolong this anymore.

If she accepted his demons then he wanted them out, laid bare.  
If she rejected it and walked away, then better it happen now than in an hour when he had spent those 60 minutes imaging a timeline where she stayed.

It had to be now.

“Felicity?” he started to speak, enjoying for a moment the way her name sounded on his tongue before she blinked up at him, dark eyeliner perfectly rimmed around her bright blue eyes.

“Ms Smoak?” the waiter interrupted the momentary lull in the conversation, holding out a satellite phone set atop a white napkin on a serving tray  
She looked down at the phone then back up at the waiter, completely puzzled.  
“There is a phone call for you Miss”  
Felicity’s eyes narrowed as she looked suspiciously at the phone, only her mother knew she had taken this job – she had left without goodbyes to anyone else for a clean break – and Felicity doubted very much that her mother, in any capacity, could see to calling her in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“Hello?” Felicity said pressing the phone to her ear as the waiter walked away  
“Hi babe, I’ve missed your sweet, sweet voice”  
 _Fuck me._

Felicity’s eyes darted to Oliver’s who were set like concrete back at her. She swallowed down the litany of curse words she felt an urge to say as she pulled the phone away from her ear, placed her palm over the receiver and smiled apologetically across the table at Oliver

“I’m sorry, I have to take this” she said calmly as she pointed over towards and empty spot in the restaurant situated between the kitchen and the large, red-lit fish tank.  
“Not a problem” Oliver replied, although Felicity hadn’t waited for it before she stood up and started to walk away.

Oliver leaned back in the chair and watched her mouth once she reached her destination. Her arm was folded across her waist, tightly, and her usually full and pouted lips were pulled tight and tersely. Oliver had spent enough time reading people in business meetings to know that whoever was on the other end of the phone call was not someone she was expecting or happy to hear from.

Those years spent in boardrooms had also taught Oliver how to, reasonably well, lip read.

“What do you want?” Felicity spat down the phone “actually let’s start with how the fuck you found me?”  
“Really Felicity, you have to ask?” Cooper laughed  
Felicity tensed her brow, it was kind of stupid of question...she was already certain she knew how  
“I tagged the email, the minute you opened it I knew where you were. I thought I should give you the time to reply, but I’ve become a little impatient. I miss you”  
She could feel her blood boiling, not over him but herself for the split second she actually felt flattered.  
“I hardly think that’s true” she snipped   
“You didn’t think we should talk before you took a job that is ludicrously below you on a cruise ship for months on end”  
“No because you and I have nothing left to discuss” Felicity spoke, forging her best confident tone  
“You don’t mean that babe”  
“Cooper, I assure you I do”  
“Rangiroa”  
“What?”  
“You dock there in three days, meet me on shore so we can talk”  
 _No_  
 _Absolutely not_  
 _Go to hell Cooper_  
“Felicity please, I don’t like how we left things”  
We? One small word – an avalanche of emotions.  
“If you meet me, I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want”  
 _No_  
 _Absolutely not_  
 _Go fuck yourself_  
“Okay” she replied, dropping her head, awash with self loathing.  
He asked and she just _jumped_.  
“I’ll have a car waiting for you. I love you”  
She felt the words like a heated knife through her spine, rendering her paralyzed.  
 _Screw you_  
 _You’re a bastard_   
“Okay” she spoke at a whisper before she was listening to the disconnected tone.

After _everything_ she just let him right back in.  
After _everything_ he had been the one to end the call.  
After _everything_.

She dropped the phone into the fish tank with a blank expression and walked back to where Oliver was waiting.

She sat down and tried to bury the simmering emotions that were threatening to boil over.  
“Is everything alright?” Oliver asked, aware to some extent her end of the conversation.  
 _Nothing to discuss_ she had been angry  
 _Okay_ she had looked saddened   
And of course he’d noticed how she had discarded the phone.

Felicity blinked back the tears, the regret and the sudden convulsion of self loathing as she saw the concern in Oliver’s eyes.  
The _wicked game_ had found her and she felt stupid and powerless, two things she had never wanted to feel again.

“I’m sorry, I have to go” she bit back her lip as she stood up and clutched her purse to her chest  
“Felicity, wait” Oliver started but Felicity shook her head and hurried off towards the doors

Oliver caught up with her as she burst through the doors, stumbling over a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.  
“Is something wrong?” Oliver asked, his hand gripping her arm  
“It’s fine, it’s nothing” she replied forlornly   
“Who was on the phone?” he asked abruptly, tired of skirting around the question.  
“It doesn’t matter” she snipped, pulling her hand from his grip  
“You promised honesty”  
“And I’m giving it to you”  
“Clearly whoever it was has you shook, I have-“  
“Don’t you dare say you have a right to know. You don’t. You don’t get to ask me those questions. I told you I wouldn’t lie to you, but I also said that I wouldn’t tell you everything. This is one of those things. That phone call and what we’re doing have no correlation”

She stepped back, regretting her biting tone but unsure how to rein it in.  
“I have to go. It is what it is”  
She walked away before she could see the impact of her words.

So that was done.  
That little escape was over now.  
She felt the hot tears marring down her cheeks at the thought.  
Her past was catching up with her. She had given a good attempt to try and escape it, but with little more than a gentle nudge she had become _babe_ once more.

_It was what it was._  



	9. The Cliffhanger

**Day 30: Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia**  
**February 12**

  
Felicity stood in front of the door she felt like she had become akin with over the course of the last 20-something days since her and Oliver started _this_ – whatever _this_ was.

She had debated with herself all day whether or not to go to his room. She knew she owed him an apology – she had tarred him with a brush that was not his – but at the same time she had tried to convince herself that perhaps this was for the best, that she had burned the bridge enough to make a break, a break which she was convinced was the _smart_ move.

“ _It is what it is_ ”  
Those had been her last words to him and despite the method in which she said them, she had absolutely meant them. She couldn’t offer Oliver any more than what she had.

And yet-  
Once again she was outside his door, her hand poised to knock.

She took a slowed breath.  
Deep and heavy.  
She stilled her fist less than an inch from the door.  
And then she knocked.

It felt much longer than normal that she stood there listening to the imagined echo ringing through her ears. She had a half mind to run just as she heard the latch clunk from behind the wall of white.

She almost blurted out every word that had been circling around her head before she blinked up and saw an unexpected face looking back at her.  
“Tommy?” she muttered, looking over to shoulder to check she had knocked on the right door

“Felicity’, come in, join us, have a drink” Tommy smiled, his words half slurred as his eyes displayed a very obvious haze about them  
“Oliver, you have a visitor, make her a drink” he called over his shoulder as Oliver appeared from the recessed part of the living room  
“It’s fine, I’ll come back” she said, stepping away from the door before Tommy caught her by the wrist and jovially pulled her into the cabin

“I won’t say I’m not disappointed that you’re not the stripper I hoped Oliver had ordered, but still you’ll be fun company I’m sure” he laughed as he slapped his leg at his own joke  
“I don’t think they have stripers here” Felicity replied, refusing to meeting Oliver’s steeled gaze.

He didn’t look angry as she had expected, but there was definitely a subdued and tentative nature about the way he watched her from across the room. It was as though he was studying her, perplexed by her presence but just as equally intrigued by it. She felt under the microscope of his azure eyes, but it wasn’t as intimidating as it had once been. Also, if she were being honest and the shoe was on the other foot, she would be wearing a much fiercer scowl.

“Oliver you promised strippers” Tommy cheered, raising a small glass full of lightly golden liquid into the air before sculling it back.  
“I promised you coffee and fruit, no strippers” Oliver replied  
“I thought those were their stripper names” Tommy huffed as he flopped onto the couch

“You know you’re very pretty, I can see why Oliver likes you” Tommy announced as he tried to throw a pretzel in his mouth, but missing it completely  
“It’s a shame we couldn’t hit it off, you seem like a nice girl, I need a nice girl in my life”  
“You need coffee” Oliver sighed, pouring a mug full of freshly brewed coffee  
“You two seem busy, I should just go and come back another time” Felicity said, waving a finger back towards to the door

“It’s fine, stay, please” Oliver replied slowly as he placed the coffee in front of Tommy  
“Once I get this down him I’ll take him across the hall, I cut him off about an hour ago” he continued walking back towards her, his voice low “he’s been drinking ginger ale assuming its whiskey” he winked

Felicity nodded slowly as she slunk into one of the armchairs.  
“So no woman tonight Tommy?” she asked coyly as she watched him slurp up the coffee then swear at its temperature  
“Flying solo I’m afraid” he laughed, setting the mug back down on the table with a shaky hand  
“Well I’m sure you’ll be back on your game tomorrow”

“You don’t happen to be hiding any smart, pretty girls like you in that office of yours, are you?” he slurred, shuffling across the couch to sit a little closer  
“I’m afraid not, all men down there”  
“Now that’s a damn shame”

“Alright Tommy take it down a notch” Oliver remarked with a half-smile as he handed Felicity a coffee before sinking his tall frame into the armchair opposite  
“I mean it, you’re onto a winner there Oliver, she’s pretty, she’s smart, she fucking _reads_ man, do you know how rare that is?” Tommy jested, waving his arms somewhat erratically  
“You know, I might be going out on a limb here, but how would you feel…” Tommy started, locking eyes with Felicity  
“Don’t” Oliver interrupted, bracing his hands on the arms of the brocade chair  
“About a threesome?” Tommy finished, completely ignoring Oliver’s warning

She held back the gape of her mouth, fearful the coffee she had just taken a sip of would stain the ludicrously expensive carpeting in the cabin.

“I said don’t” Oliver gruffed, his head dropping to the palm of his hand  
“Is that, like, a thing you two do?” Felicity asked, holding back the smile as Oliver looked up from his palm with a heavily confused expression  
“Not exactly, we’ve tagged teamed before” Tommy answered, nodding his head slowly with a giant grin plastered across his face “God, what was that girl’s name, hot Brazilian with the fantastic bre-“  
“Tommy” Oliver said sternly, his eyes issuing the rest of the cease and desist notice  
“You remember, it was your birthday right? What three years ago now. That party lasted like 3 days, until-” Tommy’s face suddenly dropped, his body sinking into itself as he stopped his own words  
“I’m sorry man, god I’m the worst best friend” Tommy sniffed, hanging his head between his knees, his hands running down the back of his neck  
“It’s fine, just leave it” Oliver replied his eyes blinking away from Felicity as she watched his jaw clench

The air hung heavy in the silence the proceeded for what seemed like an hour, but was only a mere minute or two, before Tommy stood up.

“I think I need to go” he announced  
“No, I mean maybe I should” Felicity replied awkwardly as she nervously toyed with the arm of her glasses of, the unspoken words thick through the air – she knew there was something she wasn’t privy to.

“I think it’s my exit time, honestly you stay” Tommy tipped his head as he steadied himself and headed towards the door  
“I’ll walk you across the hall” Oliver remarked as he walked towards Tommy  
“I’ll only be a ten minutes, just making sure he’s okay, wait for me?” he asked, leaning into Felicity’s ear as he walked past

“Yea” she smiled, watching as Oliver caught up with Tommy and placed a friendly pat on his shoulder – more unspoken words between friends.  
“Goodnight Felicity” Tommy sighed, melancholy as Oliver opened the door for him  
“Goodnight Tommy” she replied watching the two of them disappear behind the closed door

* * *

  
Felicity roamed around the cabin, her fingers innocently dancing across surfaces until she found herself in the bedroom. It was, still, in pristine condition. Not a discarded item of clothing on the floor or a single thing out of place.

She walked her fingertips across the dresser before stopping them on the jewellery box, her mischievous mind intent on shuffling around some of those cufflinks.

Before she talked herself out of it, she lifted the lid and counted the pairs with her eyes. Around number four something glistening underneath caught her eye. She pulled away the small foam housing and found herself looking at a dainty chain and pendant.

She picked up the thin link chain and let it drop into a puddle in her palm. It was definitely a female’s necklace, silver but not as brightly polished as the other pieces in his box, as though it had not been cleaned as often as they had.

The pendant was small, the size of a dime. It was simple and shaped like a full-bodied tear drop. A smooth rounded lightly red glass dome was on one side and the other was smooth aside from two engraved letters at the centre-bottom, _SQ_.

There was something exquisite and youthful about it. While no expert it didn’t look to Felicity like costume jewellery but rather something understatedly expensive.

She heard the click of a card through the door lock and quickly dropped the necklace back into its place, pushing the foam casing in before dropping the lid with a clink.

Felicity almost stumbled into the living area just as the door opened. She decided in that moment, whoever that necklace belonged to, she doubted it was any of her business.

  
“So I’m sorry about that, Tommy can get a little _much_ when he drinks, but he means well” Oliver spoke as he entered the room and walked towards the bar where Felicity had stood herself to it  
“How long have you two known each other?” she asked innocently as she rolled her finger around the rim of the white fruit platter that sat inches away from where she was leaning  
“Decades, since we were kids” Oliver replied with a brief smile as he strolled behind the bar and with a sweeping gesture offered Felicity a drink  
“Just a water” she replied, slipping into one of the barstools, her palms laid flat of the cool granite top

“Tommy and I have shared the good, the bad and the ugly together, he’s like my brother” Oliver added as he twisted the cap on the bottle water and decanted it into a glass before sliding the same across the bar top into Felicity’s expectant hand

“The women?” she smiled, watching his expression over the lip of the glass as she took a sip  
“Never at the same time” Oliver replied coyly  
“Two women more your style”  
Oliver poured a nip of whiskey as if by instinct and sat it on the bar top, twisting the glass with his thick fingers

“No, I don’t like to share around my affections in bed. Whoever I’m with deserves _all my attention_ ” he replied, drawing out the last few words as his eyes dropped to Felicity’s, capturing them in a heavy stare

She took another sip of the water to loosen the breath that hitched in the back of her throat at the velvety words that had dripped from his mouth.

Oliver blinked away, breaking the laser focus as suddenly as he had instigated it. He threw back the nip of whiskey, blew out a sharp breath and placed the glass, with a clunk, back down on the granite top.

“But you didn’t come here to discuss that, did you?” he asked, his manner stepped back a little from the unguarded one Felicity had seen previously.  
She couldn’t blame him though, his stood-back nature befitted her snapped one of the previous night.

“No” she sighed, rolling her neck softly to the side with an apologetic smile “I came to apologise, I owe you that much”  
“Don’t feel like you need to” he replied briskly, masking his hurt well  
“I do need to, you didn’t deserve that. You have been nothing but charming and kind to me and I took something that wasn’t about you and I lashed out. For that I’m sorry”

“But I take it you’re still not willing to tell me why?”  
Felicity blew out a forced exhale carried into a heavy sigh as she slipped off the barstool, crossed her arms and looked anywhere _but_ at Oliver.

“No” she replied simply, her eyes finally landing on his  
“I’m sorry if that hurts you in some way, that’s not my intention Oliver”  
“Are you afraid of telling me? Because you shouldn’t be, we all have those things we aren’t proud of in life” Oliver said as he stepped away from the bar and lingered a mere foot from her

She shook her head softly as her eyes walked up his taller frame. He stood much taller and bulkier than her, but his size was never once intimidating.  
“I’m not scared, it is _what it is_ ” she shrugged, perhaps she could try to convince herself of the same “I just don’t think it needs to be a part of what this is, or was”

Her head slowly rocked back and forth as she scuffed her shoes against the titles, turning in the spot before backing slightly away, subconsciously putting a wall of air between them.

“This ends when we step off this boat in Florida, doesn’t it?” Oliver asked bluntly, desperate to fill the gap she had created, but holding himself back from doing so

Felicity nodded slowly.  
“I understand if you’d rather end it now”  
She blinked at him, then out towards the window afraid that he would see the fear trapped in her eyes. It had always been her intention that this would end at some point, that whatever they were doing had an expiry date, because that’s what she _needed_ to believe.

“I don’t want this to end now” he replied, cupping her head in his hands “so if this does have an expiry date..”  
“It does”  
“Then I won’t waste any more time”

He lifted her head and let his lips fall softly onto hers.  
“I can’t offer you anymore” she ghosted the words over his lips  
“I know”  
“And you’re okay with that?”  
“I’m here aren’t I?”  
She went to open her mouth, but his lips stopped her words.  
“It was a rhetorical question Felicity, you don’t need to answer it”

They stumbled backwards and Felicity felt a crisp spark traverse her spine as her back firmed against the cool floor to ceiling window that ran the length of the living area. Oliver studied her for a moment, her breath hitching at the way his eyes lingered on her – her eyes, her lips, her neck – drinking her in like a work of art in the Louvre.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered, his breath warming against her cheek causing it to blush fiercely  
It was a loaded question but before her analytical side had a chance to dissect it she answered with a breathy and gravelled “Yes”  
“Good” she thought she heard him say but it had been so shallow, so quiet, that she wasn’t sure if she had imagined it.

His palm tapped a switch to the left of her head, the sudden movement making her jolt against the cold window twisting it’s temperature through the light weave of her small jewel-blue dress. The lights that had once dimly lit the living area shut off, leaving only the huge moon at the tail of the boat, hung in the sky like a kite behind them, to bathe the room in heavenly white light.

“Take off your clothes” he spoke as he stepped back, his tongue feasting on his lower lip in anticipation “Please, let me watch you”

She stepped away from the cool grip of the window and twisted her arm slowly behind her back, crawling her fingers up the spine of the dress till they folded around the small zipper. She didn’t argue or protest, even in feigned displeasure, because Felicity wanted to be looked at the way Oliver looked at her. It was hypnotic and addictive, the idea, the reality, that someone wanted her to the level that they wore their lust so openly in their expression was a rush like no other.

She tugged the zipper tag slowly, feeling the fabric tug slightly down into a ‘v’ before succumbing to the pressure and splitting apart as it should.

The sound of the zipper cracking open down her back felt magnified in the still, dark, quiet between them. She watched as he watched her, his eyes studied her like a meal set down before a famished person.

When the zipper found the bottom of the path, stopping at the small of the back, the dress hung open, sending pulses of brisk air against it from the window she idly inched back towards. Her fingers danced over the small straps of the dress before easing each one off the curve of her shoulder and exposing her heaving collarbone. The dress fell loose around her body once she wiggled it free from around her hips. Once free it pooled into blue puddle around her feet.

“You have the most exquisite curve” he rasped, his eyes never straying from her body as he stepped towards her  
His hands wrung over each other as though they were fighting to decide which one could touch her first.  
“Now what?” she panted, eager to let herself go to him  
He stayed silent as he moved closer. His breath misted against her naked collarbone as he leaned down and captured a nip of her neck between his lips.

Slowly his hopped trail of hot kisses reached her ear, sucking in gently around her lobe and the dainty earring that hung there. He was enamoured with the effortless way she adorned herself. Not dripping with garish Cartier or Tiffany, despite her only needing to utter the words and he would buy her an entire store full. Once more he was reminded that she never asked anything from him, that he was enough – not his money, not his name, just him – even if such a reality was only until Verdant docked for the final time, in Florida.

His fingers trickled a slow path around to the clasp of her bra before folding in around it and gently unhooking it with ease. She purred softly as his lips traced a path set by his index finger along the rise of the shoulder to the top of the curve, pushing the black satin covered strap off the edges of her shoulders. Her bra dropped to her feet, spilling over the top of the puddle of blue dress also there.

Oliver’s lips dripped down the centre of her chest as he walked her backwards a few steps. Felicity hissed through parted lips as her naked back pressed against the cool glass of the window. Oliver paid it no mind as his tongue swept over her pebbled nipple before scooping her breast into the richly warm confines of his mouth. His breath fanned out over her blushed skin as his mouth took her breast in deeper, his tongue swirling over her nipple, teasing a subdued mewl from her lips.

“How many times has a man made you cum in one night?” he asked bluntly after he released her breast from his mouth  
The question caught her unaware, her eyes squinting in the glowing haze of the white moonlight to see if there was an expression of jest caught in his eyes – there was not.  
“I don’t know, two” she replied timidly, the cool glass pressed against her back still sending jolts up her spine.  
“You don’t know, or two?” he asked, his voice low and muffled against her neck  
“Two” she puffed a shallow response  
“And how many times do you think you can take?” he asked his lips still caressing the sensitive skin down her neck  
“I’m not sure, four”  
Oliver pulled back, his thumb smoothing against the place where his lips had just left off.  
“Five it is then” he smiled, the heavy white rays of the moon bouncing waved lines across his face

She didn’t even feel him slide her panties off until they fell down around her ankles. Oliver dropped to his knees moments later, his eyes directly in line with her apex. She felt a hot rush of nerves flush against the apples of her cheeks.

He pressed a lingered kiss atop her mound as his hands eased her legs wider apart. Without warning his tongue forged in between her folds eliciting a breathy gasp from her rosy lips. Felicity bit against her bottom lip to stifle any further noises as she leaned her head back against the glass. She felt exposed, robbed of all her clothes while he remained cloaked in his, she was open in the most vulnerable of ways to scrutiny, but she felt none at all.

His tongue slipped deeper into her folds as his top lip curved in around her clit. It was an intoxicating feeling that she could do little stop herself completely succumbing to.

Oliver’s lips folded in around her clit, his teeth lightly nicking it as his tongue batted it from side to side. She felt the tightening across her core as he breathed heavy pants against her brimming sex. She bit down harder onto her lip, no doubt marking the ruby red shade of it with deep crevassed marks.

For what seemed like hours stitched together his mouth devoured her between the legs. Quick, sharps licks followed slow, drawn sucks. She could feel her hips grinding against his head, the movement seemed to spur him on and pull him deeper. He added a thumb which circled her entrance, coating it in a warm, thin veil of her. She clenched as his lips, once more, swarmed around her clit. At the same time his thumb broached her entrance, pressing in against the smooth, clamped walls.

She gasped, dropping her lips from the snare of her teeth. His thumb pumped quickly in and out of her, rolling over the seal of her entrance on each passing of it. His mouth stayed put, buried between her folds and gingerly his tongue lapped up the trickled juices that his thumb coaxed out.

She tapped her head against the window as she struggled to catch her breath amidst the heavy panted breaths. Her lips folded inwards as her inner walls fluttered quickly around his thumb buried deep inside her.

Oliver smoothed his hand down her thigh before lifting her foot off the ground and hitching her leg over his shoulder, spreading her wider. He could feel her body lightly shaking involuntarily to his lavished attention.

He knew she was close.  
He had spent their times together studying the way her hips always rolled clockwise a few degrees before falling back the other way. He knew she tipped her head back and he knew her fingers always searched for something to clutch at, in this case they were gripping into his hair.

He was right.  
Moments later he was lapping up her sweet, glossed and rich release with a smile plastered across his lips.  
“One” he hummed against her clit

Felicity’s legs felt like jelly by the time his lips kissed a slow trail down her leg. Her breath was hitched, her mouth dry and a thin curtain of sweat beaded down her back between the cool glass and her burning hot skin.

Her eyes were closed but she felt his palms walking up her sides, gripping in around her waist and she heard the ruffle of his clothes as he stood.  
“Next time, don’t hold back your cries, I want to hear them” he whispered as he dragged his thumb across her blotched bottom lip, still marred with the tiny teeth marks she inflicted on it.

“Felicity?”  
Her eyes cracked open before she nodded slowly at his request.

Not since the first rushed and insatiable time they had had sex had Oliver taken charge, in fact he had let her set the pace, let her dictate where and when. He had acted somewhat reserved with her; and now Felicity realised he had done all that for a purpose.

“You’ve been studying me” she quipped, her balance faltering a little as she still rode through the aftermath of her climax  
“Absolutely, and now I’m ready” he smiled his warm lips against her neck as one palm nestled in the small of her back, the other gliding down her outer thigh

“For what?” she sighed, leaning into him  
“You’ll see”  
He lifted her with ease, one arm bracing across her back, his fingers wrapped around her waist. The other scooped up her legs, letting her pointed toes dangle in the air.

Her naked body was heated to his touch and glistened with sweat in the white haze piercing through the room. She elongated her neck to press a soft kiss against his jaw. It was a small peck by nature, but it held so much more by its intent.

Expiry day aside, she trusted him.

He lay her gently down on the bed, watching as her feet slipped down before caving at the knees and dropping a little to the left, twisting her waist in the most seductive of ways.

Her palms smoothed down the fine linen bedspread either side of her body before they folded over her chest, one arm gripping at her opposite shoulder to sheath her breasts underneath.

“Don’t cover yourself, not from me” he growled softly, as he plucked her hand from her shoulder, finger by finger  
“You’re being bossy” she huffed playfully as she let her finger glide slowly between her breasts  
“I have a sense you like that” he winked

She blushed fuschia despite her attempt not to. It was not something she would openly admit. The last man she had loved had stifled her voice so much over the years that what she had once liked had become muted behind what he did – because, in her mind, that’s what love did.

Oliver backed away from the bed, pausing for another few seconds to let his eyes linger on her. He had decided sometime around day 25 that Felicity was a juxtaposition on modesty, that a part of her was timid, shy, reserved; but another part of her was desperate to be the opposite of that, like there was a shadowy minx trapped inside that she was longing to release. The idea made him hard, but for now he would have to wait.

He backed away towards the door, watching her as she sat up on her elbows and peered through her glasses at him.  
“Where are you going?” she asked, her head innocently dropping like a puppy to the side  
“Not to make a sandwich” he laughed, before his eyes narrowed “stay put”

She flopped her head back onto the billowed pillow, sighing softly at its luxurious softness. He really did have a nice bed. She watched the ceiling, also illuminated by the soft white glow of the moon hung in the thick dark sky. It was only as she watched it dance across the ceiling that she could feel the lulling of the to and fro movement that came from being on a boat. Her eyes dropped slowly, splaying her lashes across her cheeks.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep” a gruffed voice came from the side of her as did a small clunk on the bedside table  
“Resting my eyes” she grinned, twisting her head to follow the cause of the other noise  
She raised a brow as her eyes landed on the small tray of fruit Oliver had placed beside the bed.  
“Are you hungry?” she asked  
“You have no idea” he smirked, licking three heavy strokes of his tongue across his lips  
“How much can you see without your glasses?”  
“Enough to recognise you, not enough to drive safely” she shrugged  
He nodded as he reached out and tugged them gently from her face. She blinked successively a few times, letting her eyes adjust to the difference.

She went to say something mildly snarky about him not being as handsome slightly blurred but his lips suffocated her words as he leaned over the bed, kissing her deeply and passionately.

He broke from the kiss leaving her lips hanging open in the air before he peeled off his jersey knit tee and threw it towards the corner of the room.  
“Mister McFancyBriefs won’t be amused” Felicity laughed gingerly  
“He has other things to occupy himself with” Oliver growled as he climbed on the bed between her legs, spreading them apart

His thumbs drove heavy tracks into her thighs as he walked hot kisses up her chest, lapping up with glee the way she giggled softly at the attention.  
“Your stubble tickles” she hummed, rolling her head around the pillow as he reached his hand alongside her and plucked a strawberry from the platter

“Bite it” he whispered with a husky tone as he drew the succulent red fruit across her plump bottom lip  
She jostled a little underneath him, her hands pinned beside her by the weight of his body, before she reached her mouth up and nipped off the end, chewing the sweet fruit slowly before licking off the remnants of juice on her lips.

Oliver smiled as he sat up a little, easing the pressure off her chest. He swiped the exposed end of the strawberry across her lips, painting them a beautiful pink hue. Before she could trace her tongue across the same path he pressed both his lips around her bottom lip, encasing it and dancing his tongue along it, lapping up the sweetness he’d painted there.

She mewled helplessly at the seductive trawl of his tongue across her lip. She raised her hips and arched her back just enough to rub her heat against the rough canvas fabric of his charcoal coloured pants.  
“Not yet” he growled, her bottom lip still trapped between his

He dropped her lip with a small pop and sat back up, admiring the way her chest rose and fell steadily underneath him. In their time together Oliver had noticed that Felicity always held a little something back. He was assured by her physical reactions to him that she had enjoyed herself each and every time they had sex, _made love_ , but whenever it finished he would watch her retreat into herself for a few moments before she moved from the bed and got dressed. It was only for a split second that she stayed within herself, but Oliver had wondered if in that moment Felicity was toying with the decision to stay beside him or leave. Perhaps, he wondered, he would find out the answer to that tonight.

With the strawberry still poised in his hands he drew a slow line down between her breasts, leaving a silken trail of juice and a tiny drops of pink flesh in its wake.

He ran the fruit in circles over her breast, shrinking the circle as he grew closer to her nipple. He watched her chest rise and fall quicker as her breath sped up and her beautiful almond-shaped eyes blinked furiously.

Oliver’s mouth enveloped her breast, taking it all in feverishly. He could feel her finger clamp in around his thigh, her nails gnawing at his skin despite the heavy canvas that lay between them. He listened to her wistful moans as he worked his tongue backwards around her hard nipple, firming it against the underside of his tongue and the bottom of his mouth.

His attention to her breast was harder this time, nipping at the sensitive areola and causing it to pucker in response. His palm massaged her other breast, kneading it gently before plucking the nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tweaking it briskly.

Felicity pushed her head deeper into the pillow and clasped her lip between her teeth, stopping the pleasured cries instinctively. Oliver’s thumb tugged her lip from her teeth as he dropped her breast slowly from his mouth.  
“I told you not to stop them. Let me hear you” he instructed with a gravelled voice  
She nodded with quick bobs of her head, her eyes tracking him as he rubbed the strawberry over her other breast in much the same fashion as the first.

“This is the best fucking strawberry I’ve ever tasted” he growled before his mouth encased her second breast, paying it the same slow and deliberate attention with his tongue as he did to the first.  
“Shit” she breathed as he bit down on her pebbled nipple and sent a shockwave through her chest  
“That feels fucking amazing” she cursed, closing her eyes to relish it as her hips gyrated under him, desperate for a sliver of friction

He threw the strawberry onto the plate as he dropped her breast, the sting of the cool air conditioning above them gluing to the warm mist of his breath was like a sudden jolt of thunder.

Oliver hovered a hand above the fruit before settling on the slice of fresh orange. He straightened his back, holding the orange slice a few inches from the smooth crest of her chest.

“You’re going to make a mess” she smiled, leaving her lips slightly parted as she exhaled a small sigh  
“I’ll replace the bed linen” he winked as he gently squeezed the orange slice sending three small drops of juice falling onto her breast bone, her chest concaved at the sensation of the cool juice, causing it to roll down her centre where Oliver’s tongue was ready to lap it up.

He moaned hungrily as his tongue weaved across her stomach making it shudder lightly underneath him with a gentle rhythmic laugh.

Felicity watched wide blown eyes as he squeezed more juice, spilling it across her chest and then quickly used his tongue to lath across her chest collecting each droplet. The sensuous nature of it outweighed any other emotion as she let soft, drawn out moans drop from her mouth.

A plea was on the tip of her tongue for something more as her heat once again searched for a connection to grind against, craving that sensation. Oliver’s hand slipped under her back, raising the angle of her pelvis before his arm pressed in against her raging heat.

She let out a rasped cry at the finding of contact against her baited sex. She rode slowly up his arm, eager to feel each rise and groove his arm made firm against her folds.  
“Don’t get yourself there, not yet” he coached, plucking another piece of fruit from the platter

“What’s that?” she panted, stretching her neck up to try and see what was in his hands  
She could only make or put the triangle shape and the light coloured flesh reflected in the moonlight.  
“See if you can guess” he replied, hovering his lips just above her mound as she rocked against his arm.

He pulled his arm back, eliciting a disgruntled moan from Felicity’s lips.  
“This will feel better” he smiled as her wrapped her legs around her waist and pushed her knees into the bed, opening her up.

He slid the slice of crisp, cool watermelon between her tempered folds and instantly her ass rose off the bed and her heels dug into his back.

It was like ice skating between her lips, brushing against her warmed clit and melting through her folds. She lost words as she panted feverently, Oliver’s name finally forming on her lips.

His tongue surged between her folds, licking up the sweet water that trailed behind the watermelon.  
“Felicity?” he moaned her name against her clit making it reverberate  
“Yes-yes” she pitched in reply  
“Are you ready?”  
“Mmm, yes” she moaned as she felt his tongue sweep across her brimming sex  
“Good”  
He skated the watermelon around her entrance before he delved his tongue inside her, the sudden filling causing her walls to clench it tightly. His thumb rubbed her clit smoothly before quickening the pace as his tongue thrust in and out of her, his lips crashing in around her and drinking up the trail of watermelon still lingered there.

Her hands found tenement in his shoulders, her nails digging in around the curve as she chanted his name through heavy breaths.

Her core tightened and her back arched as he continued to devour her, his tongue playing her like an instrument as his fingers worked her clit hard and fast. She could feel the welling up inside her, brimming towards an explosion more vivid than the last. She tipped her head back and let go.

Oliver drank her up, her sweet release coated his tongue and splayed around his lips. She was still clenching around his tongue when he pulled back, unzipped his pants and released his throbbing cock.

He eased into her warm and twitching entrance. She gasped at the slow fulling but her legs hugged him tighter and her lips begged him deeper.

He would not give her the time to recover between this and the third and with slow but deep pumps inside her, he knew it wouldn’t be long.

Felicity cried out, her sensitive body walking the tightrope between pleasure and pain. His cock filled her to his hilt, his pelvis rocking against her burning clit making her shudder and a few small tears fall from her eyes.

Even before the rolling of the second orgasm had stopped she felt the surge of a third one low across her core.

She let out a litany of strung together curse words as she let go a third time, her whole body convulsioning with it.

Oliver sped up, briskly chasing his own release which was mere seconds away as her warm and velvety juices coated his shaft. His balls throbbed and his face tensed half a second before he spilled inside her, relishing the way her walls clenched around him, milking his shaft.

He could feel her body jolting underneath him when he pulled out and lay beside her. For now she had reached her limit and he knew it. He pulled her towards him, wrapping his arm around her as his other palm gently rubbed circles around her lower back, easing her through her release.

They lay there quietly, her body curved into his as he kissed the top of her head.  
“And that makes three” he smiled, nestling his chin into her messy hair  
“I can’t do more right now” she whispered, her breath warm against his chest  
“I know” he cooed  
They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Oliver slipped off the bed and pushed her trousers to the floor. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, water instantly falling from the dual shower heads on either side of the large glass-cased shower.

He walked back in the room, and once again scooped her up into his arms.  
“I _can_ walk” she smiled, her entire body flushed a beautiful shade of dusk  
“I like carrying you” he replied with a short shrug

The truth was he loved the way her small frame fitted in his arms, the way her head fell against his chest and the way her arm instinctively wrapped around him. He felt like her protector, her hero carrying her away from whatever peril she faced. He thought it stupid, but he couldn’t deny that she brought that feeling out in him.

He let her down gently in front of the shower and kissed her tenderly on her forehead, she looked absolutely spent.  
“Do you want to go in there alone?” he asked, hoping she didn’t  
She pressed her lips together and smiled as she slowly shook her head.  
“I guess I owe you two” she replied, lifting her body up on her tippy toes to press her nose to his  
“You don’t owe me a thing, seeing _you_ happy” he breathed between smiled lips “is all the reward I need”

He opened the door and ushered her in. The steam surrounded their bodies, misting them with hot vapour before they stepped under opposite shower heads and let the water cascade over them.

He watched her dip her head back into the flow of the water, the water spilling through her hair, plastering it down her back.

“Stay with me tonight” he spoke up, drops of water dangling from his lips as it beat down around his back  
“Oliver we already talked about this, I’m not-“ she bit her lip, struggling to repeat the story she had told him, that she was not the type of girl he could wake up next to.

It wasn’t so much a lie as it was Felicity trying to convince herself of that. She was level headed enough to know that if she slept beside him a whole night she would love it and another of her well-protected walls would crumble. She couldn’t afford that.

Even though she forced herself to leave every night before and it always felt so torturously wrong, she couldn’t fall for Oliver Queen, not with the broken heart she carried around.

“We have an end date, whether you stay the night or you leave, our story finishes the same way, so just stay. Enjoy the minutes we have” he said, his hands soothing against her shoulders

Tonight she couldn’t say no.  
“Okay” she smiled, stepping in closer so her head could nestle into his chest.

Oliver wrapped his arms around her, letting the water crash around them. He still wanted to share with her the secrets that lay on the tip of his tongue, but her knew that release would tarnish what they had. There was an imposed time limit now, so perhaps, he reasoned, there was little to be gained by spending any of those minutes toying with realities that they couldn’t change.

* * *

  
**Day 31: Cruising the Pacific Ocean**

Felicity stretched out her naked body between the luxurious sheets that felt like warm silk around her body. The sun was peeking through the blinds, which she decided Oliver must have closed sometime this morning as they had been open during the night.

She caught herself smiling at the memories that came creeping to mind about last night. A man of his word, Oliver had made her orgasm two more very memorable times.

Once the ‘old fashioned’ way about an hour after their shower together. She had woken, thirsty and peckish so in the still night, guided by the moonlight dripping throughout the cabin she had tiptoed out of the bedroom and rummaged through cupboards under the bar to find a stash of pretzels and trail mix, not the greatest combination but she was too famished to care.

She was finishing a mouthful of pretzels and was lining a pattern of trail mix idly along the bar top when Oliver, moving like a silent ninja, grabbed her at the waist and spun her around. Before she had a chance to yelp in surprise his lips had found hers and he was kissing her, hard.

She had pushed him back desperate for some air after she swallowed both her surprise and the last remnants of pretzels. He had told her how he had woken up to find her gone and had assumed she had thought better of staying the night. She had smiled and shook her head gently, although the thought had crossed her mind.

They had kissed some more, heavy and desperately, as though a clock sat above them and counted down a timer. He had marked her skin at the base of her neck and she had relished every second of, scratching her nails through his scalp and down the concourse of his back.

He had hoisted her into the air and planted her onto the bar top, spilling the path of trail mix she had so carefully orchestrated. They had sex right there, fast and heavy. He had cum first, her a few moments later, a fact for which Oliver had apologised for, much to Felicity’s enamoured amusement – he had no reason to be sorry, she had reassured him, absolutely no reason.

The fifth time had been only a few hours earlier, just before dawn broke through. Felicity had been asleep, dreaming about the ocean. Dazed, she had woken slightly, so sure she could feel the bed moving, floating atop a few waves in her dream. The rolling sensation became more prominent once her eyes fluttered open. Seconds later, her brain caught up with the stirring between her legs. She had flung back the covers to find Oliver there, giving her the most amazingly sensual tongue bath between her legs.

There was definitely nothing Oliver needed to apologise for.

Felicity clenched her walls tightly as she remembered that last time fondly, she was almost certain she had fallen into a coma-like sleep after that, her body still tingling even now.

She wasn’t surprised to see the bed empty beside her, Oliver had told her he was somewhat of an earlier riser and needed to make a few phone calls before breakfast, given the time differences.

She was however surprised to find a little folded note on the pillow next to her. She opened the small card and read the words quietly to herself.

 _Good morning,_  
_Have a shower if you like, I didn’t buy you any lingerie this time, but I hope you find the robe on the hook behind the door to your liking. Coffee and breakfast will be waiting for you._

 _~Oliver_  
_The tall guy who is infinitely grateful you took a chance on him_

She folded the note and lay it on the bedside table. It was sweet, incredibly sweet, and it made her heart bloom a little where it had long ago withered up...but that also made her sad, she wasn’t open to little notes left on the bed, she wasn’t open to coffee and breakfast because those things spelled love; and she wasn’t – couldn’t, isn’t, can’t – be open to love.

But what, she reasoned, if this wasn’t _love_ , just mere displays of affection for someone you’re sharing your nights with. She nodded slowly as she worked on convincing herself. They were adults, adults who knew the rules, adults who could have fun. Love didn’t need to be the goal – it didn’t even need to be on the map.

She exhaled briskly as she made the decision to just accept what feels good and stop when it no longer does – not a problem, she was a grown woman, she could set her own definitions.

Felicity lingered in the shower longer than she probably needed to, but the water pressure was almost perfect and she didn’t have to be anywhere until 2pm when her shift started.

She found the robe, exactly where Oliver’s note said it would be. She had laughed loudly when she saw it. A deep blue soft towelling robe made to look like the TARDIS. She wrapped it gingerly around her body and almost skipped out into the living area where she found Oliver tapping away on his laptop.

“Good morning” he smiled, looking up from his keyboard “it suits you”  
“I adore it, thank you” she grinned, twirling in the robe with childlike candour “Where did you find it?”  
“It wasn’t hard” he shrugged  
Truth was Felicity had mentioned she was a fan of the show a couple of weeks ago and the next day Oliver had spent hours trying to find something that would be just the right amount of present. He had stumbled upon far more intimate things which he had stored in his mind for another time perhaps. Once he had settled on the robe, he called his assistant back home and told him to purchase it and priority ship it to their last anchor point.

The assistant hadn’t even questioned it except to ask if it was to be put on the QC expense account, much to Oliver’s amusement. He had obviously made much stranger requests over the years.

“Well it’s perfect” she replied, chuffed as she sunk into the chair  
She leaned over the table to grab the coffee pot before Oliver slid an already poured cup over to her.  
“It might be a little tepid, you took longer in the shower than I anticipated” he spoke before pushing over a second plate “these should be to your liking”  
“Pop tarts!” she exclaimed  
“Well, I did promise them”  
“I’m beginning to like staying here” she smiled, shifting nervously when she heard it repeated in her head  
“I think I’ve made my thoughts on that clear” he replied with a charming smile that made her blush

“You look confused” she redirected the conversation, nodding towards his laptop  
“I’m still trying to find that illusive trail. But I know next to nothing about these things” he sighed as he scraped fingers across his scalp  
“Don’t you have people to look through that for you?”  
“This is of a sensitive nature, I’m almost certain someone is skimming money from a few charities we sponsor, I just don’t know who, ergo I don’t know who I can trust”

She watched the lines deepen across his face, this obviously meant quite a deal to him.  
“I could take a look” she remarked “I mean, if you want”  
“Could you?” he asked, his brow slightly raised  
She smiled, there was so much he didn’t know.  
“I know enough to take a little look around, although I understand if you’d rather keep this in house”  
“No, that would be” he breathed “I trust you, thank you”  
“I’m not promising I’ll find anything, but I have the late shift tonight so I can take a look when it’s quiet”  
“Thank you” he replied genuinely  
“You’re welcome”  
  
“So, what are your plans today?” Felicity asked  
“I’m spending the day with Tommy today” Oliver replied with a half-smile as he closed the laptop and walked towards the couch  
“Oh, I see, good” Felicity smiled, instantly feeling stupid for her assumption that Oliver only had time for her  
“I would spend it with you” Oliver spoke, as if reading her mind, as he leaned in and placed a lingered kiss on her forehead “but this thing with Tommy is kind of an annual thing”  
“It’s fine, really, you don’t need to explain” she smiled, running a lazy finger along the rim of her coffee cup

The brief silence was interrupted by a shallow knock on the patio doors, followed soon after by Tommy poking his head in through the door.

“Aah Felicity, just the blonde IT specialist I need to see”  
“How’s the head Tommy?” she asked with a smile as she slotted the some pop tart into her mouth  
“Yes, about that” he smiled timidly as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt “I don’t recall an awful lot, but I’m pretty sure I owe you an apology”  
“You asked her for a threesome, you should probably be grovelling on your knees” Oliver smirked as he kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, enjoying every second of her this  
“And your answer was?” Tommy grinned, shrugging a soft shoulder at Felicity

She looked over the rim of the coffee cup and rolled her eyes.  
“Right, not the point. I’m incredibly sorry for my sleazy behaviour” Tommy started  
“On your knees Merlyn” Oliver called from the couch

Tommy glanced back at him, sighed softly then dropped to his feet next to Felicity’s chair. “Please forgive me, I know not what I do” Tommy said as he took her hand into his and cocked his head slowly to the side  
“I’m almost certain that’s a Bryan Adam’s song, but your apology is accepted, you can get off the floor”

“Oh come on, it’s not often I see the incredulous Tommy Merlyn asking for a woman’s forgiveness, milk it Felicity”  
“It isn’t the first time I’ve been propositioned for a three-way and it probably won’t be the last. Now get up” Felicity laughed, tugging on Tommy’s hand  
“There is a story in that” he winked just as Oliver’s tablet sparked to life on the table  
“It’s your mother calling you on Skype” Tommy said, looking over his shoulder at Oliver who was already on his feet, approaching  
“There is definitely more to that story, please wait till I get back to tell it” he smiled, touching a gentle palm to Felicity’s shoulder as he leaned across the table and collected the tablet

“I’ll take this in the bedroom” Oliver remarked  
“Tell Mrs Q I said hi” Tommy called as Oliver made his way toward the bedroom  
“Do not mention me at all” Felicity blushed, recounting the first meeting which still left her horrified

“There is definitely a story in that” Tommy grinned, sliding into a dining chair and pouring himself a coffee  
“Oliver didn’t tell you?”  
“It seems when it comes to you Oliver goes all tight-lipped and googly-eyed” Tommy shrugged, collecting an array of food on his plate, his eyes not glancing back to notice Felicity almost recoiling at the inference – _Oliver was different about her_

“He’s close with his mother?” she asked, deciding to steer the conversation away from her and Oliver  
“They haven’t always seen eye to eye, but Mrs Q is fiercely protective of her children” he paused briefly “of Oliver, she’s always been like a mother to me”  
“You’re close to your mother?”  
“She passed away when I was young, twenty-three years ago yesterday to be precise, Mrs Q kind of took me under her wing”  
“Oh gosh, Tommy I’m sorry, that was incredibly insensitive of me” Felicity blushed, silently wishing for a time machine to take back that moment  
“It’s okay, I guess that could explain last night. I have this annual event where I get completely drunk on the anniversary of her death, Oliver watches out for my drunk ass then spends the next day doing something with me so I’m never alone”

Tommy offered a weak smile at Felicity a depth of long-running sadness threaded through his eyes.  
That was about the sweetest thing she had ever heard and she could feel the apples of her cheeks blushing at the genuine affection the two friends had, and Oliver’s plans today sudden made her feel guilty about wishing he didn’t have them.

“You should come” Tommy spoke, suddenly clapping his hands together  
“Come where?” Oliver asked as he appeared from the bedroom, his tablet tucked under his arm  
“Whatever it is you have planned today” Tommy replied  
“Oh no, no” Felicity said shaking her head softly “I’m not imposing on your plans”  
“We’re in the Pacific Ocean, my _plans_ consisted of letting him win at cards and buying him as much lobster as he wanted” Oliver quipped  
Tommy smacked his hands together gleefully once again.  
“I don’t like sombre, Felicity. My father did sombre for years. I’d relish the company of a lady that has something interesting to say”  
“Thank you, but honestly I would feel like I’m imposing” Felicity replied, crinkling her nose as she spoke  
“Nonsense. Oliver, tell her it’s nonsense”  
“Felicity, Tommy gets whatever he wants today, it seems your friendly company is requested” Oliver replied, the seam at the corner of his mouth raising into a charming smile “Oblige him”

“Yes, oblige me” Tommy nodded  
“If you insist then” Felicity sighed in jest as she tipped a pretend hat  
“Okay, you two have sex in the shower, clean up and collect me in thirty minutes” Tommy grinned standing sharply to his feet “that should be enough time, right Oliver?”

He laughed jovially as he slapped Oliver’s shoulder before disappearing out the same way he’d come in.

“Are you sure this isn’t weird?” Felicity asked, twisting her head to look up at Oliver  
He placed the tablet on the glass table with a shallow clunk before he stretched out his arms and gestured her closer.

She stood and without hesitation, pressed her body against his chest, lulled instantly into the thumping sound of his relentless heartbeat.  
“I would have invited you myself if I thought it was my place” he smiled into the crown of her head  
“He seems” Felicity paused to consider her words “upbeat”  
“Tommy has his way of coping through loss” Oliver spoke quietly, rubbing his rough jaw lightly over her temple “We all do” he added, barely above a whisper  
“So he’s really okay with me, because I can make up a work call, or-“  
Oliver cupped her head and titled her chin upwards.  
“He likes you. You’re very likeable”  
Felicity blinked quickly, breaking the eye contact that was so intense she could swear it was imprinting on her soul.  
“You’re not jealous?” she smiled playfully  
“Of Tommy? No. He’s knows better” Oliver winked before peppering a trail of warm kisses across her lips, from corner to corner  
“Shower” he moaned against her lips as his stilled there

* * *

  
It was a little under an hour later when the three of them walked out onto the private balcony of one of Verdant’s restaurants. It was situated on the upper deck, the balcony over-looking the back of the boat with the sun reflecting high in the perfectly blue sky as the waves bounced along behind the luxury boat.

Oliver had booked out the entire balcony which was scattered with an array of loungers, umbrellas and a round frosted glass table set up in the centre with six canvas chairs situated around it and a heaping of food laid out atop it.

A few drinks later found the trio sitting around the table soaking in the crisp saltwater breeze and chatting idly.

“You know that book you were reading down by the pool, the one you told me was about firefighters”  
Felicity glanced over the rim of her frozen Margarita she had been nursing religiously for the last three dealt hands.  
“Fahrenheit 451?” she quipped with the rise of one brow, the rest of her remaining still without a trace of a telling that she was holding an almost complete straight  
“It’s not about Firefighters, I kept waiting for re-enactments of Chicago Fire”  
Felicity tried to stifle the laugh but Tommy’s perplexed expression was hard to not engage with.  
“You actually read it?” she smirked  
“Your lady friend seems to think it hysterical I would read a book” Tommy sighed, walking Oliver’s arm  
“A book without pictures? I find that a little a little funny too” Oliver smirked, placing one card on the table to replace  
“I’m more complex than you guys think” Tommy huffed jokingly as he handed Oliver a card from the top of the card deck “Not Oliver-level complex, but still”  
“Oliver is complex?” Felicity grinned, cocking her head to the side  
“Your turn Smoak” Oliver replied a disguised smile forming along the seam of his lips

Felicity chucked $50s worth of chips into the pot “Call Queen”  
Oliver matched the bet and laid his cards on the table.  
“Three of a kind” he smiled laying his palms on the table  
Felicity blinked with a short sigh.  
“So close” she breathed, laying each card slowly on the table “but so far” she grinned as she placed the final card down, an eight in a perfect straight.

“Damn, where did you learn to play poker?” Tommy laughed, lapping up the sight of seeing Oliver loose for the third time in a row  
“Secrets I’ll never tell” Felicity replied as she shovelled the pot towards her growing stash of chips

“So how about secrets you will tell. Strangest sexual encounter?” Tommy asked with a raised brow over the rim of his cocktail glass  
“Straight in there Merlyn” Felicity replied with a heavy blink  
“So they say”  
“Will we be playing spin the bottle next?”  
“Don’t answer that Tommy, it’s a trick question” Oliver piped in

Tommy sat back into the chair his arms crossed lazily over his chest.  
“Come on boys, another round. I’ll be buying my own lobster with your money tonight” Felicity grinned, a decidedly mischievous glint weaved through her eyes  
“Not until you answer the question” Oliver replied, mimicking Tommy’s stance  
“You’re not serious?”  
“Are we serious Oliver?” Tommy asked as he turned to look at Oliver  
“Absolutely serious” Oliver nodded with a heavy head

“Fine, I was in college..”  
“I like this story already” Tommy grinned, slapping Oliver’s arm  
“Be cool man” Oliver joked, faking a disapproving look

“Anyway, I’d just broken up with my boyfriend, or he with me I suppose if I were being honest, brutally so” she sighed, sipping back on her drink  
“What a dick weed” Tommy snickered  
“You have no idea, anyway, I found myself the sad girl sitting alone at the bar when this not completely unattractive man starts chatting me up”  
“Are we talking daddy age or granddaddy age?”  
“I mean” she shrugged her eyes refusing to meeting with the two sets looking at her “He probably had thirty years on me”  
“Oh snap”  
Felicity shot Tommy a half snarl before he caved back into his chair. Oliver was just sitting there with a big, wide grin. She had no idea what he was thinking but she was almost certain, once this story was told, she was not going to live it down.

“We ended up going back to his place, I was drunk and desperate to prove a point. So we’re doing” she rolled her fingers over the word caught in her throat “it and the light comes on”

Tommy shifted in his chair leaning forward, while the smile didn’t budge from Oliver’s face.  
“And….in walks the guy’s wife”  
It was only at that moment when Oliver’s smile grew into a light chuckle as he slowly shook his head back and forth.  
“Oh it gets worse. They start having this almighty argument and I’m just scurrying around the room trying to put on my clothes. Then they start making out on the bed, tongue down her throat. The wife looks up at me, completely deadpan expression on her face and” Felicity paused, blinking slowly as the sobering reality of the memory came flooding back “she asks if I want to join them”

“You are shitting me” Tommy laughed, tapping out a drumbeat on the table  
“Wish I was”  
“And so you said yes?” Oliver asked, raising a soft brow and a twistedly delicious smile  
“I ran so fast out of that house I left my favourite pair of magenta Dr Martin’s behind”

Felicity skulled back the dredges of her drink before she sat back into the chair, her cheeks blushing a fierce shade of rosy red. Barely anyone knew that story, but she had shared it with them – two guys she barely knew, the joviality of their reaction was almost – liberating.

“I have to head off you work soon, but I’m pretty sure I have time to hear about your most embarrassing sexual encounter” Felicity smiled, propping her head between her palms with her elbows leant on the table  
“Oh no, that wasn’t part of the deal” Oliver replied, his smile dropping almost instantly from his face  
“Oh come on, that’s not fair”  
“Wait, I know this one” Tommy piped up “the time you knocked the girl out, or the time you pulled your dick muscle?”

“Hit me with the dick muscle” Felicity cheered before her brow furrowed at the way that sounded “I mean the story, clearly”  
“Clearly” Oliver grinned “but I’m afraid there just isn’t the time. I know how seriously you take work and you really should get going”  
Felicity’s eyes narrowed before she glanced down at her watch – he wasn’t wrong, her shift started in ten minutes.

“Foiled this time Oliver, but Tommy _will_ tell me that story” she smiled as she stood from the table  
Both Oliver and Tommy stood at the same time.  
“We’ll see” Oliver snipped back with a smile

Oliver walked Felicity towards the door, glancing back at Tommy who was ordering another cocktail, no doubt with a decidedly rude name.

“So tomorrow” Oliver said quietly as his hand slowly walked down her arm  
“What about it?”  
“It’s the fourteenth, a day some people in relationships might do stuff with or for each other”  
“I’m aware”  
“I don’t know if that crosses our lines”  
“I think it probably does, but this shift is till early morning” she shrugged, hoping he caught the inference without her having to actually turn him down  
“I know, I figured you’d probably want some time to sleep, I’m going to take Tommy off the ship when we anchor, spend the day zip lining and canoeing, or whatever Rangiora has to offer”

 _Rangiora. Cooper._  
That was tomorrow. For a brief moment she had let that slip from her mind. She bit her lip to stifle the sudden change in her expression, sure that if Oliver noticed he would ask her about it.

“You should do that” she replied with a shallow smile and a brief nod  
“Can we pretend it’s just like any other night and see each other that night. Nothing romantic or sentimental I promise”

Felicity’s smile relaxed as she breathed out softly, catching herself enamoured at the consideration he continually showed her.

“Yea, we can do that. I might have found something about QC to report back too”  
Oliver leaned down, grasping her slender waist between his large hands. Their bodies skimmed against each other before hers grazed up his chest as she rose onto the tips of her toes. Their lips sunk into each other in a mix of warm air and soft chimes of almost muted adoration.

They let their lips explore the others, almost as though they were locked in slow motion, rolling over and tasting each other softly at first but building to a deeper rhythm. His tongue smoothed over the supple dip of her lip, moaning at the luscious softness of it.

He pulled his head back slowly, his lips leaving traces of his warmed breath against hers as they lingered there a few moments longer.  
“If I don’t stop kissing you now, I’m afraid I will need to carry you back to my place and let my mouth absolutely have its way with you, again”

He stepped back then touched his thumb to her plump bottom lip before he gently tugged across it.  
“So I’ll just savour the taste you’ve left on my lips” he whispered, swiping his tongue across his fevered lips before leaning in close to her ear “and I’ll leave the devouring for tomorrow night”

He pressed an affectionate kiss to the base of her ear before pulling back.  
“Deal?”  
“Deal”

* * *

**Day 32: Rangiora, French Polynesia**  
**February 14**

It was after midday when Felicity stepped onto the small pier on the beautifully clear day. The crystal blue waters almost sparkled in the reflection of the crisp sunshine, but all Felicity felt were dark clouds spiralling in around her.

She hated how easily she had agreed to this meeting, but then she had – for longer than she cared to admit – always said _yes_ to Cooper; and despite how far she thought she had grown away from that Felicity – that _babe_ – it took him simply asking her for her to fall right back down into it.

She saw a familiar bulk of a man leaning against a black SUV – probably the only one on the whole island, she decided. She took a heavy breath, stilted her shaking hand and made a straight path towards the figure, her chin lifted and her shoulders back.

“Marcus. I see Coop still has you doing his dirty work” she half sneered as she pulled open the passenger door  
“Clearly old habits die hard for both of us” came his equally terse response

It was a short, barely 10-minute, drive that Felicity would have gladly walked in the fresh island air, but the spectacle of it all didn’t come as any surprise to her – Cooper always liked to make a grandiose gesture or entrance.

She didn’t wait for Marcus to open the door like she calculated he would, instead she opened her own door and stepped regretfully out onto the cobbled path. She saw him the instant her head lifted and it would not be unfathomable to assume that he had specifically picked that chair at that table and instructed his lackey to park in that exact spot because, with Cooper, it was always about the theatrics.

She took a drawn breath, silently trying to convince herself that maybe this is what needed to happen. She coached her chin upwards and her eyes locked straight ahead. Her face wore barely a hint of an expression – and certainly not one of fondness.

She walked with purpose, but not in any sort of hurry, she knew his eyes would be studying that, ready to pounce on any opening she gave him.

“Hello Cooper” she spoke emotionlessly as she sat down in the chair opposite, her arms closed around her body – a literal reflection of the wall she was placing between them  
“Hello Wife” he replied, his lips twisting up into the arrogantly charming smile she knew all too well


	10. The Crash

“Don't call me that” Felicity sighed, trying her best to keep her adopted stance  
“Why? Just because you took off your ring doesn't mean I did” Cooper smiled, dancing his finger with the platinum band atop the table top  
“The divorce papers you were supposed to file negated the need for rings Cooper. What the fuck are you doing here?”  
“The last what, six months have changed you”  
Felicity swallowed heavily and prayed that was the case.  
“Six months since you left, eleven if you count the last pained breaths of our marriage beforehand. Why didn’t you sign them, I gave you what you wanted. Your empire, your freedom, why are you here?”  
She felt the quiver in her voice, the carefully constructed walls she had spent the last six months building were coming under earthquake like conditions and she hated that. She _hated_ that he could still do that with little to no effort.

“We were good together once” he smiled as he leaned over the table, brushing his fingertips across the top of her hand  
“Maybe once Cooper, but that was so long ago it’s barely a memory”  
“I loved you”  
She took a sharp breath and leaned back, pulling her hand away.  
“It doesn’t matter anymore Cooper, we don’t work. Sign the papers, give them to your lawyer. Call time on something that is beyond broken”  
Her resolve was weakening like her voice. Cooper had taken so much of her heart, so much of her, once. A fact she could not easily forget.

“I want us to try again, I miss you” he smiled, his head dipped to the side, his eyes searching hers  
“She left you didn't she? The perky blond with the fake boobs, the one I found you with in the hot tub? That's why you're back, because you need your little stepford wife to come home to, am I right?”  
  
“I love you, I made a mistake”  
“I made the mistake coming here. You don’t love me and I don’t love you, not anymore” Felicity sighed, standing up “sign the papers Cooper, let me go” she sniffed back the tears, desperate to hold onto the semblance of control she was left with

Cooper stood too and slipped around the side of the table, his height suddenly as imposing as she had always felt it, despite him not being as tall as Oliver.

Before she could put distance between them he scooped his arm around her waist, tugged her in close and kissed her with heavy lips and hot breath.

It felt like nothing.  
She felt _nothing_

Her palms flattened against his shoulders before she shoved him backwards  
“Don't you ever touch me again, you don't get to touch me” she warned, her eyes narrowed and her lips tensed “go home Cooper”  
  
“Babe, I admit I thought this would go a little differently” he smiled, jostling his shoulders jovially  
_Theatrics_  
“What do you mean?”  
He pulled a folded piece of paper from his left breast pocket, tapping it softly against his temple. She already knew what it was before she saw the _Verdant_ logo.

She backed away, her lips dropping apart as she shook her head gently.  
“Of course you did” she spoke, her eyes blinking heavily as the shake of her head waned “Because that’s what you do”

She turned around and walked away, her heart twisting and buckling over the realisation she needed to tell Oliver.  
“Offer you a ride back Felicity?” Marcus grinned as he leaned against the SUV  
“Fuck you” she replied

**~*~*~*~**

Oliver was standing on the porch of the small boat hire place at the end of the cobblestone path set back from the tiny cafes that spilled out in front of him. Tommy was hitting on a young tour guide inside who was lapping up the attention.

Oliver smiled as he listened to the banter a few feet aware before his eye was drawn to a large black SUV that seemed so out of place amongst the rickshaws and mopeds. He squinted a little at the distance, forcing his eyes to adjust, as the door opened. She was some distance away, but when a breeze blew back her golden hair, any doubt as to her identity vanished. It was Felicity.

He felt a sudden pang of guilt for watching her when it was clear she had not seen him, but he couldn’t drag his eyes from her as she folded slowly into a chair opposite a young guy in a tailored tan jacket and darker slacks.

He couldn’t hear a word of the conversation and the distance between him and them was too great to read their lips, so he was blind to the words spoken, the body language however appeared glaringly.

They knew each other. Her arms were folded across her chest at first, but soon they were flat on the table, then his hand was on hers. It lingered there for seconds that grated at Oliver until she pulled her hand away.

“What are we looking at?” Tommy asked as he appeared from the store and slapped Oliver’s shoulder  
Oliver didn’t acknowledge him, his eyes trained on Felicity and his jaw clenching with jealously at the scene playing out before him.  
“Is that Felici-“ Tommy didn’t finish his sentence, leaving his mouth gaping when Cooper tugged Felicity into an embrace and his lips crashed onto hers.

“Shit” Tommy breathed before he swallowed any further words and jostled Oliver inside, recognising the look of attack on his best friend’s face  
“You don’t need to see that” Tommy urged as he almost needed to wrestle Oliver away from the door  
“Who the fuck was that?” Oliver sneered, clenching his fists  
“I don’t know, that’s a question to ask Felicity, but not here, not now” Tommy replied  
“She’s out there with another man” Oliver’s face twisted over his words as he paced a circle  
“I’m sure there is a reason, but you go out there with all guns blazing what do you think will happen?”

Oliver glared back at Tommy, his jaw clenched and his lips contorted.  
“You and I both know you got jealous blinders on right now Oliver, you’ll knock the guy out, Felicity will go to town on you because you punched first and the guy probably has a friend I’ll end up in a tussle with and both our asses will land in some tiny jail cell watching each other pee. Is that what you want?”

Oliver huffed a heavy exhale and dropped his chin to his chest.  
“Calm down, give her a chance to explain” Tommy sighed as he patted Oliver’s shoulder

By the time they walked out of the shop Felicity had left and all they saw was Cooper closing the door of the black SUV before it drove off towards the Pier.

* * *

  
“Felicity, get in the car” Cooper laughed, leaning out the window as the SUV drove alongside her  
“Go to hell Cooper”  
“You don’t mean that”  
“The hell I don’t”  
“Why are you so angry?”  
Felicity stopped, blowing out a tired breath.  
“Really? Don’t get on that boat Cooper, go home, sign the divorce”  
“Give me a chance?”  
“How many chances do you deserve? I’ve already given you more than enough, this time would end no differently”  
“Two weeks, that’s all. Give me two weeks to show you I’ve changed”  
“No”  
“Because of him?”  
Felicity knew not to bother asking how he knew.

“That’s none of your business”  
“You’re my wife”  
“Was I your wife when to fucked your assistant? Was it your wife when you spent your nights in that loft fucking whoever would go home with you? You don’t get to pick and chose when I’m your wife Cooper. Stay on the boat as long as you want, I can’t stop you, but stay away from me”  
“I love you” he called out after her  
She didn’t stop, but the words marred her like a heated knife against her skin, scarring her without mercy, not because he spoke them but because she was terrified a part of her deeply wanted to believe them.

* * *

 

 _Oliver had a right to know_  
The words echoed through her brain as she walked small circles around her tiny room. If for no other reason than because Felicity knew Cooper well enough to know that Oliver would find out about him one way or another and it would be far better coming from her.

Her eyes dropped down to the laptop and the note she had scribbled to Oliver. While she had decided to leave a few small details for Oliver to discover himself, she had definitely uncovered a trail of shell companies and hands that were dipping into charitable pockets. Oliver’s feeling had been spot on, someone was definitely stealing from QC run charities and telling Oliver about what she found could be the ice breaker she needed.

He had trusted her with that information; she needed to reciprocate that trust.

After a short walk with the laptop tucked under her arm she found herself knocking eagerly on his door. She could do this, she could open up to Oliver, let him see behind another of her fortified walls. She _wanted_ to, despite her fears.

The door opened, Oliver standing with his looming bulk in the doorway momentarily before he stepped aside and withdrew into the cabin, leaving the door open and Felicity without a greeting.

Her mind was too washed out with the million things she had to tell him to really notice his cold reception as she filed in the room behind him, tapping the door shut with her foot.

“You were right about the charities Oliver” she started, placing his laptop on the table – she decided to start the conversation here, because _here_ , talking information and facts, was where she was comfortable.  
  
“Who was he?” Oliver huffed, unable to dissipate the dark cloud above him  
Felicity blinked up as her fingers drew circles on the surface of the laptop. She could read it in his eyes and in the clench of his jaw, Oliver knew.

“Oliver...” she started, combing a heavy hand through her hair  
“Don’t tell me I don’t get to ask you that question”  
“I wasn’t going to” she replied, her lips quivering over her words

“So, who is he?” Oliver asked, his lips forming slowly over each syllable  
“I cant” she quipped, more to herself than anything else as all her bravado and confidence completely vanished  
“Why? Do I mean that little to you?” he snapped, dark shadows cast through his features  
She felt the tears building up behind her eyes. She blinked them back furiously as she watched his face contort. She wanted to tell him, but the words were anchored inside her. She was scared, terrified, to admit to Oliver who _she_ really was.

“It’s not that, we all have our secrets” she breathed slowly “the things we keep hidden, like you and the necklace you keep hidden away from me”  
Felicity’s eyes dropped to the floor before she slowly looked back up.  
“No, you don’t get to do that, you don’t get to turn this around on me Felicity, I asked you who the man I saw you kissing was”  
“I wasn’t kissing him, you need to believe that”  
“You can’t even tell me who _he_ is, how can I believe anything you say? This has only ever been fucking to you hasn’t it?”  
“Is that what you think?”  
“You don’t leave me with much choice”  
“Fine, if you really think that, let’s just fuck then. Where?” she stammered, flailing her arms around the room “You want to fuck on the piano? We haven’t done that yet. The pool? Or maybe just a good old fashioned fuck right here on the floor” she spoke bitterly, tears racing down her flushed cheeks

“Don’t twist this Felicity, you wanted this, this sex without love. You, _you_ wanted it. You made those rules. I’m just asking for the fucking truth and you can’t even give me that” he snapped, his hand clutching at his hair as his other hand gripped onto through back of the chair, the familiar fire starting to twist and whip under his skin

“He’s my husband” Felicity shot back, her voice tempered with both anger and regret  
“You’re married?”  
His breath hitched in his throat as he stumbled one step backwards

“His name is Cooper Seldon and he’s technically still my husband” she sighed, pulling back the heated tone of her last words, this had not been how she wanted Oliver to find out  
“I don’t understand” Oliver gaped  
“He was my college boyfriend, I loved him deeply and foolishly. We were young and impulsive to the point we got married a week after my nineteenth birthday. We graduated and tried to take on the world. Somewhere along the way he became so much a part of me that I forgot who I was without him and along the same path, I stopped been enough for him” she wrapped her arms tightly around her slender frame, each word proving to be like a thorn in her side

“His name, it sounds familiar, Seldon as in SeldonTech?” Oliver asked  
Felicity nodded slowly “that’s the company we built together”  
“He’s worth billions” Oliver exclaimed  
“I know, I told you that money meant little to me. I didn’t take this job to become rich, I know that two edged sword well enough”  
“Then why did you?”  
“To become someone else. I signed over my stocks, my work, the houses, the cars, everything. I gave him _everything_ and I tired to walk away, right onto this boat and into you” she sniffed, her shoulders shrugging softly “He was supposed to file the paperwork and I was supposed to be divorced”

“But he came looking for you instead?”  
“Yes” she let her shoulders hang heavy as she braced herself against the granite bar “that’s my story”

“How long have you known you were still married?” Oliver asked as he paced a straight line to the armchair in front of the bar  
“Since that night at the bar” she sighed, her eyes set downward  
“You’ve known the whole time we’ve spent together and you didn’t think to tell me?” Oliver breathed, heavy lines of sadness marring his face  
“I couldn’t Oliver” she whimpered  
“Why? You sat there and you asked for honesty, but you gave me none in return”

“I didn’t tell you because that’s a part of my life that I didn’t want to be anymore. I didn’t want you to meet the Felicity that loved someone so much that even when he cheated on her time and time again, she stayed with him” the tears flowed like lava from her eyes, stinging her cheeks as they burned into her skin  
“I didn’t want you to meet the Felicity that is weak and damaged and so fucking broken, the girl that became everything and nothing at the same time. She became everything he wanted and nothing like the girl she was”

Felicity stepped backwards, pressing her body into the wall as her legs shook underneath her.  
“I told you that in love someone always loves deeper, I know that’s true because that was me and it _hurt_ ” she breathed sharply, the stale air sitting deep in her throat “I gave him my heart, my soul, my _everything_ until I didn’t know who I was or how to live without him”

“But you did know, you left him” Oliver spoke, a heavy rasp in his voice as he choked back the emotion  
Felicity shook her head softly with her lips snagged between her teeth as she blinked back tears.  
“That’s the worse part, even after the affairs, the control and the lies, after everything, I wasn’t even the one to leave. I couldn’t even do that, I couldn’t even leave him. He left me, I got on this boat because I knew all he had to do was ask and I would have taken him back, love broke me that much”  
The back of her hand dug the tears from her eyes and swept them from her cheeks.

“And now?” Oliver breathed as he watched her bloodshot eyes dance around day his words “What if he asked you now?”

Felicity cowered under the weight of her tears as they flooded her face and her whole body trembled.  
_No_  
_Yes_  
_No_  
“I don’t know” she whispered in reply

Oliver nodded slowly. She had sworn not to love him, he knew that, but the fact that she hadn’t sworn off another, pained him to his core and each time his eyes saw her after he blinked, the reality that she could not love him bore holes even deeper inside. He had fooled himself long enough.

He walked towards the door and opened it with a heavy click that echoed through the foggy silence between them.  
“Let me know when you figure it out” he spoke sadly, the pain etched through each crease around his eyes

Felicity pursed her lips together, folding them over before letting them part to take a shaky breath. She wanted to say so much, or perhaps just to say anything at all, but she had nothing to offer Oliver that would be the truth, nothing except; “I’m sorry Oliver”

She turned as she reached the threshold of the doorway, “I never meant to hurt you” she spoke in stunted words “I never meant for things to end this way”

Felicity watched as a single tear broke free from the wall he’d built in his eyes and ran a twisted path down his cheek. She watched him swallow heavily and his shoulders slump forward just a fraction. She knew she had hurt him regardless of her intent.

She turned away, unable to watch the emotion leak from his expression any longer.  
“I’m sorry” she whispered before she took a few steps away  
“I know” Oliver replied before his hand slowly pushed the door closed

It was over now.

* * *

  
**[Day 35: Cruising the Pacific Ocean]**

“See this isn't that bad now is it?” Cooper smiled as he leaned across the table, his eyes zoning in on Felicity who was sat opposite  
“I'm here to convince you to leave Cooper, that's it. To show you we don't work” Felicity replied, nursing the drink in her hands as the dulcet tones of the jazz band waved through the space between them  
  
“You left Central City without saying goodbye Felicity, I needed to see you, I wanted to try again”  
She took a heavy breath, perhaps if they were back in Central City she would have lapped up every single word that fell from his lips, but now, here, she saw them differently, she saw his words laced with years of mistrust  
  
“What do you want from me? You have it all. I know you're not here for me Cooper. I've never been enough for you, just tell me what you want”  
  
Cooper sat back into his chair, folding his arms across his chest and twisting his lips slowly around his words.  
“Fine, you got me” he sniggered with a heavy shrug of his shoulders “I need you to come back to work. We can't get the algorithms of the new data bank to work without you, we have a backlog of clients and a room full of MIT graduates fucking things up”  
  
Felicity nodded slowly as she combed a hand through her softly curled hair. She knew he wasn't there for her heart, that part of her had never meant anything to Cooper.  
“You shouldn't wear your hair down, it makes you look typical” he huffed  
  
She couldn't help but smile, the old Felicity would have taken that to heart and quickly rectified it, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, but for the first time in years Felicity didn't feel the need to bow to his every wish. Something had changed. She _had_ changed after all.  
  
“Why are you smiling?” he snipped, swallowing back his stiff drink  
“Because, I've finally outgrown you Cooper. I finally don't give a fuck” she replied, leaning over the table  
“I'll fix your programme, you'll finalise the divorce, then you'll leave. Do we have a deal?”  
“You won't leave with me?”  
“No, never again will I see you. After this, we're done. You never look me up, you never come find me, we are done. Do you understand?”  
“That's what you say, but you'll come back” Cooper grinned, his head cocked a little to the left as his index finger tapped the edge of the table  
“No” she shook her head firmly “I wont be. I don't need you, I don't want you and I'm so much better without you”  
  
She watched him sink down into his chair, she knew in that moment that he believed her – and more importantly, she believed herself.  
“Those are the terms, that's all you get” Felicity spoke, each word a triumph in itself  
“Fine, I agree. You start on the programme tomorrow”  
“No, I start when you bring me a signed divorce agreement”  
“How do I know that you'll keep your word”  
“You don't” she stood up “you'll just have to trust me, knowing that I'm not anything like you and my word actually means something”  
  
She watched him digest her ultimatum with a grain of pleasure at seeing him, for once, bowing to her.  
“Fine, it's a deal” he snipped  
“Bring the papers and everything I need to my cabin tomorrow morning. Goodbye Cooper” she smiled as she took a triumphant breath and slung her bag over her shoulder  
  
She walked away from the table, the weight of the years falling away from her like the shedding of skin. She didn't need Cooper to validate her any more, she didn't need to hide behind a wall built around the fear of having her heart broken.  
  
Her heart was still fractured, bruised by a past she couldn't ignore, but she could see a chance to love again – she could see Oliver.  
  
So ingrained in her own thoughts she didn't see him standing a few feet away, his frame poised between walking towards her and walking away from her.  
  
Oliver watched her, a small smile drawing up across her supple lips. He couldn't see them but he imagined the same smile dancing through her eyes. They had said things, heated things, spoken from a place of pain and if nothing else he wanted to let her know that he wouldn't force a choice on her and that he would wait for her decision because he knew Felicity was worth waiting for.  
  
“She has a fantastic ass doesn't she?” came a voice from beside him  
Oliver turned to see the man he could only assume was Cooper, the same man that Oliver had seen kissing her, the one who had made Felicity swear off love, the one who sent a thunder bolt of jealously charging through every limb in Oliver's body.  
  
“You must be Oliver Queen, thanks for looking after my wife this last month” Cooper smiled with a cocky expression plastered on his face “I hope she wasn't too much to handle”  
Oliver swallowed down the venom that was boiling up his throat – he knew he was being goaded.  
“Although you look like you're capable of keeping her in line”  
“Felicity doesn't need to be kept in line, she needs to be free from people like you” Oliver hissed, his jaw clenching tighter with every word  
  
Cooper raised his hands and stepped back.  
“Alright man, whatever you say. All I'm saying is that she is a firecracker, sometimes they start forest fires if you don't control them. Anyway, I hope you had fun with her. Although” Cooper sighed as he tapped a finger to his lips “I could lend you her to scratch an itch when you have one if you throw the Queen Consolidated data security contract my way”  
  
“You can fuck her however you want if you give me that” Cooper winked  
  
Oliver felt the surge of anger pulse from his chest down his arm into his balled fist mere seconds before the same fist came down heavy against Cooper's nose, breaking it with a hefty crack and sending him hurtling backwards onto the floor.  
  
Shrieks came from behind Felicity causing her to turn and see the spectacle going on just in front of the lobby of the restaurant she had left moments earlier. It took only seconds to recognise it was Oliver pummelling Cooper on the plush carpet.  
  
“Oliver” she called, running up to the scene and pushing past a few onlookers  
She tugged at his arm as he went to draw it back again.  
“Oliver, stop” she pleaded  
He glanced back, his lips twisted with anguish at the look of horror caught in her eyes.  
  
Felicity looked down to Cooper, his face covered in his own blood from his clearly broken nose and his left eye red and swollen.  
  
“Oliver, what were you thinking?” Felicity cried as she knelt down beside Cooper, only for the fact he was clearly the loser in whatever had conspired  
  
“This” Oliver snarled “ _this_ is what you don't know about. _This_ is who you chose”  
He flicked his fist before massaging it into his other palm.  
“Right” he growled as he stepped back into the crowd, turned and walked away

Felicity watched him leave and her instinct was to follow, but when she looked down at the bloody and beaten Cooper clutching at her arm she turned to a stranger nearby instead.  
“Call the medic” she instructed as Oliver disappeared from sight.  


* * *

“What did you say to him?” Felicity asked as the medic finished gluing the small cut above Cooper's eye  
“I told you, I didn't say a thing. He just asked if I was Cooper and when I said I was, he suckered punched me. The guy is dangerous” Cooper replied, his face twitching at the pain resonating through his face  
  
Felicity snorted lightly, there was not a single part of her that believed Oliver would do that. She glanced down at her watch, she had stayed in the medical bay with Cooper for the last thirty minutes. He was no doubt nursing a bruised ego and would be sporting a black eye for some weeks to come, but he was fine. She needn't stay there any longer.  
  
“There isn't a bone in my body that believes that Cooper. I know you must have said something to him, why? God only knows, but you probably got what you deserved” she sighed as she headed towards the door  
“You're leaving?”  
“You can have your lackey come and collect you, I have more important things to do” she cocked her head to the side before she disappeared out of the door.  


* * *

  
Oliver opened the door to find Felicity standing there, a nervous smile on her face. He clenched his grazed knuckles against the side of the door as her eyes fell to them.  
“Are you okay?” she asked softly, switching from one foot to the other  
“Why does it matter?” he replied with a tensed upper lip, all while he held back a deluge of regret and sadness  
  
“Oliver, I'm sorry”  
“I know, you're sorry for everything, you never meant to hurt me, you never meant for me to find out that you were married, really, you can stop apologising for things that you regret, including me”  
“That's not what I'm sorry for” she sighed, acutely aware that they were catching the attention of the couple down the end of the hall “could I come in, could we talk?”  
  
“What's the point? Day thirty something or day one hundred and something, why patch a sinking ship?” he sighed as he stepped back from the door  
Felicity stepped into the cabin her eyes falling onto the two girls wearing scraps for clothes sitting perched on the couch, poured drinks clasped into this slender fingers as they giggled in code with each other  
“I see” Felicity spoke quietly as she looked back up to Oliver “message received, crystal clear”  
  
Her lips pressed together as he eyes pulled inward, desperate to hold back the looming tears that were burning behind her eyes. Oliver could tell what she was reading in the situation, but his emotionless stance did nothing to dispel her assumption.  
  
He watched her hurry down the hallway, her hands swiping quickly at her face as her head hung low.  
“I'm sorry too” he whispered as he closed the door  
  
“Who was at the door?” Tommy asked as he appeared from the bathroom  
“No one” Oliver lied as he tapped a heavy palm on the back of the door “You and your girls need to go, I didn't give you a spare key card to my room so you could empty my bar too”  
  
“Yeah, no problem Oliver” Tommy smiled as he grabbed his suit jacket which was draped over a barstool “Come on girls, lets move this party elsewhere”  
The two girls stood, still giggling as they shifted their skirts down a little and each took one of Tommy's arms.  
  
“Sure you won't join us?” the blonde asked Oliver as she fluttered her fake lashes  
“No, I have some work to do” Oliver replied stoically as he pulled open the door and gestured them out without any further ceremony  


* * *

  
Oliver tapped his fingers along the seam of the laptop as it sat untouched, in the same place where Felicity had placed it days ago. He remembered what she had said about him not being wrong, that she had found something and frankly, Oliver could use the distraction.  
  
He opened the top and watched a note float out from its coffin between the screen and keyboard. He picked it up, running heavy fingers around the edges.  
  
_Oliver,_

 _You were definitely onto something. I've written down a few notes here for you to follow. I'm pretty certain that the employee with the number below is the one you're looking for. I decided not to look into the QC database to give this person a name or a face and I didn't dig into the names of the charities (there were a few which I have given you the numbers for, but the most prolific one is at the bottom of this note), I think it's better that you find that information yourself, but regardless all the information you need to hand over to the Police is contained in the desktop folder called “Got You” - just email that through to someone you trust in Starling and the person dipping their hands into the piggybank will go away for a long time._  
  
_If anyone asks, please don't mention my name with this discovery, its better I'm not affiliated with some of the dubious methods I used to get the information – I promise if you ask nicely I'll tell you what that means one day._  
  
_I'll accept your tongue in payment._  
  
_~F_  
_(the girl with the glasses who thinks you have a great ass)_  
  
Oliver folded the note back up and couldn't stop the smile from flickering across his lips, she must have written this note before Cooper – before everything that came after him.  
  
There were a two more scribbled notes at the bottom, a seven digit employee ID number and a Charity ID number. He would need to look up the employee ID number so he started up the database from the shortcut on the desktop as he looked at the second number.  
  
That number he knew off by heart. The charity was one he had set up himself. The one he wrote personal cheques to every single pay cycle – assigning more than half his salary to it in an attempt to quell some of the guilt he carried around with him.

That was _her_ charity.  
  
The anger raged inside him as he thumped the ID code into the QC database, whoever the thief was, he would see them destroyed for this. He fell back into the chair when the picture appeared on his screen.  
  
“No” he stammered as he felt his insides twist into each other  
The fire under his skin raged, burning every nerve he had until it felt like his entire body was engulfed as his eyes couldn't blink away from the smiling photo of his father. The ID number belonged to none other than _Robert Queen._  
  
Oliver stood up suddenly, sending the chair flying backwards. He let out a pained cry as he threw the laptop from the table, smashing the screen against the floor.  
  
His hands scraped into his scalp as he panted gasps of disbelief. Everything felt like pain as he reached for the fallen chair. He lifted it into the air, took a stunted breath and screamed in anguish as he slammed the chair onto the bar, splintering it immediately.  
  
He threw the broken chair against the wall, shattering the frame of the painting that hung there. Glass shards scattered across the floor as Oliver dropped to his knees, his heart shattered like the glass surrounding him.  
  
He pulled his phone from his pocket as he clambered to the wall and propped himself against it. He opened the contacts, scrolling past the last dialled numbers – his mother, Tommy, he stopped at John Diggle's number and took three sharp breaths inward before he shook his head and scrolled past it to an unnamed but familiar number.  
  
“I was beginning to wonder where my best customer had gone to” the voice answered, a smile clearly heard in his words  
“Can you get me a suitcase of whatever you've got cooking and deliver it to Samoa in two days?”  
“You always have such interesting propositions for me Oliver”  
“Can you, yes or no?” Oliver growled down the phone  
“I'll fly it there myself in a private jet, if you ask nicely”  
“I'll ask nicely by paying you whatever figure you ask for Count. Just be there”  
Oliver ended the call and dropped his head to his knees, his whole body caving under the pressure of his heavy sobs.

* * *

  
**[Day 59: Cairns, Australia]**

Felicity was picking idly at her chicken salad as she tapped a pen onto her desk. She was putting together the final bits of the puzzle Cooper couldn’t seem to figure out on his lonesome, she had seen his mistakes as glaringly obvious and the fact he’d overlooked them made her relish in the knowledge she was still smarter than him.

It had taken some time to work through it all, but she was finally looking at the very bright light at the end of the tunnel. The divorce had been set in motion back home too with the very enthusiastic help of her mother, who had never cared for Cooper, taking the helm. Felicity expected word of its finality soon. Cooper for his part, for once, kept his word. He would disembark tomorrow and wouldn’t be returning.

She had not seen Oliver as she spent all her time holed up at her desk with either Verdant or SeldonTech work to keep her occupied. There were times she thought about sending her a message or reaching out, but she had never garnered enough _chutzpah_ , her mother would say, to do it.

It was during a moment where Felicity stared at her screen hoping, foolishly, for a message from Oliver to appear, that another unknown number flashed up on her screen. She was getting a Skype call from an American number.

“Hello?” she said as she answered the video call, a familiar face flooding her screen  
“Mrs Queen?” Felicity quipped, her eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and shock  
“I’m sorry to bother you dear, I just wonder if Oliver is with you?” Moira asked with a slightly pensive tone

Felicity sunk deep into her chair, noticing only now the tired and drawn look over Moira’s face, she looked poles apart from the previous, well put-together Moira that Felicity had embarrassed herself in front of

“He’s not” she paused briefly “we’re not together anymore”  
She saw the soft sigh escape from his mother’s lips, Felicity had thought Moira cared very little for her, but she could gave sworn she saw a blink of sadness in the older woman’s face.

“I’m sorry to hear that, you seemed to have made quite the impression on him”  
Felicity swallowed heavily, first Tommy and now his mother – they both saw a different Oliver when he was with her.  
“Perhaps he’s with Tommy” Felicity replied  
“That’s part of what worries me, thick as thieves those two, not always for the better”

Felicity managed an awkward smile, unsure what information Moira was privy to.  
“I’m sorry I can’t be more help, perhaps a call to the concierge, Oliver has his own”  
Moira sighed again, this time with a finger pressed into her temple.  
“I was hoping to avoid that, should Oliver be...” she stopped her words “Ms Smoak, my son is addicted to a raft of drugs, both legal and _otherwise_ and I haven’t heard from him in two weeks and neither has his sponsor”

Felicity knew her mouth was hanging open and that her eyes must be like saucers, _Oliver was an addict?_  
“I’m sorry to lay this on you Ms Smoak, but Oliver told me the last time I spoke with him that he intended to tell you, that he wanted you to know. If my son trusts you, then so do I”  
“What do you need from me?” Felicity asked genuinely  
“Please, just check on him, ask him to call me or if he’s too ashamed to, please ask him to call his sponsor, John Diggle”

Felicity didn’t see the regal face of a wildly successful businesswoman in that moment, all she saw the scared face of a mother.  
“I'll go now, I’m sure he’s fine” Felicity replied, replaying their last interaction through her mind  
“Thank you” came the thankful response

Felicity let the call disconnect as she sat back into the chair staring at the 'call ended' symbol blinking across the screen. There was more information given in that phone call than she had anticipated or had properly processed. She had long suspected that Oliver held something back from her, but the idea that he was just as damaged as her, hiding behind a wall of what he wanted her to believe, what he wanted the world to see, was something she wasn't sure how to digest.  
  
She sighed with a lumbered breath as she stood from the chair and pressed her palms into the desk. She wasn't sure how Oliver would react to seeing her – it seemed like a lifetime ago when they had last interacted and it had hardly been worth remembering.

She tapped in the log for his room number and read through the logged information. He had been ordering room service, food and drinks, up until last night but had requested house keeping not enter the room for the last two weeks.

Felicity couldn’t help but imagine she would probably be stumbling into a cesspool of naked girls and used condoms.  
  
It took about ten minutes before Felicity was standing in front of Oliver's door once again. She took a breath and knocked.  
  
Seconds flowed onto a minute without a response. She knocked again, a little harder than the last. Still no response.  
“Oliver?” she called through what seemed like a impossible wall in front of her  
Nothing.  
She knocked again, more hurried than the later times.  
“Oliver?” panic started to form in her tone “Oliver, please, open the door”  
  
“Felicity?” Tommy asked, walking up from behind, a girl clutching on his arm  
Felicity spun around, a little quiver running across her lip.  
“Have you seen Oliver?” she asked  
“Last night” Tommy half-shrugged, he had tried to rouse Oliver this morning but got no response, he assumed Oliver had just gone to the gym  
“Was he okay? I'm worri-, his mother is worried about him. Do you have a key card?”  
Tommy nodded, pulling the spare card that Oliver had reluctantly given him from his pocket.  
  
Felicity grabbed it from his hands and ran it quickly through the card lock. The heavy click of the lock was like music to Felicity's ears as he pushed the door open and practically stumbled into the cabin.  
  
“Oliver?” she called into the empty space before she noticed the broken remnants around the room.  
  
Her heart stopped when her eyes finally fell to the space beside the bar. Slumped against the call, surrounded by empty bottles of liquor and scatterings of drugs.  
“Oliver?” she snapped, dropping to her knees and skidding alongside him  
  
His head was floppy in her hands as she tapped his cheeks. His eyes lulled open, his lips parted.  
“Oliver, say something” she begged, his skin clammy in her palms  
She pulled her lips in and twisted her eyes inward as her body shook lightly, desperate to get a response from him.  
His eyes drew slowly open, locking onto hers.  
“I broke the third rule” Oliver rasped, his voice cracked and breathy “I fell in love with you”  
His eyes dropped again and his head became limp in her hands.  
  
“Tommy, call for help, now”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I wanted to bang their heads together too.


	11. The Truth

Felicity's fingers dug heavily into her closed eyes. It had been almost two hours since she had found Oliver and for the first time in those 120 odd minutes she was finally stealing the opportunity to sit down.  
  
The call to his mother had been the worse. She was not a mother herself so could not truly appreciate the harrowing impact of hearing that your child was sitting on the precipice of consciousness, but when she heard the deafening silence on the other end of the phone line she could feel the absolute despair and it damn near broke her heart.  
  
It had been Tommy that had made the call but no sooner had he started talking, Moira had asked to speak with Felicity. Tommy never explained why when he handed her the phone, but Felicity could read between the lines, there was something else going on in this dynamic.  
  
“ _Is he okay_?” Moira had asked  
“ _They say he will be_ ” Felicity had tried to reassure her  
The silence hung heavy. There was no sobbing, but it was despair regardless.  
“ _I'm sure you expect an explanation_ ”  
Felicity didn't.  
  
The phone call had ended with the plans that when Verdant docked the following afternoon, John Diggle would be there to take Oliver home.  
  
_Home_  
Felicity knew that it was for the best, the demons Oliver carried had almost cost his life that night, there was nothing but reminders of that here for him – and yet, home carried so much finality to it. After preparing herself for the day that the lovers would one day part, she was now saddened to face it.  
  
She looked across the small room to the sterile white bed where Oliver lay, tethered by his wrist to the steel frame of the bed – something that was, apparently, required when the patient had self inflicted harm – a drug overdose came under that blanket rule. His size seemed more apparent in the small bed, but something in the way she looked at him had changed.  
  
She had always thought him cocky, confident, assured – but there was a weight on his shoulders that went beyond her. There were pieces of him that were damaged, broken, torn down and she hadn't seen it before – he had hid it so well.  
  
Her eyes blinked away from Oliver to watch Tommy pace the length of the bed, his hands scraping over his scalp. There was a lot Felicity didn't know – but she could recognise the face of guilt a mile away.  
  
“Did you know?” she asked, the minute the question left her mouth she knew the answer – of course Tommy knew  
  
He nodded slowly, his lips contorting as though they were afraid to utter the affirmative answer.  
“Did you know he had drugs here?”  
She knew the answer to that the moment her eyes caught onto his. He absolutely knew.  
  
“I didn't know this would happen” Tommy sighed  
“But you didn't know it _wouldn't_ either” she snapped  
“He's always been in control”  
Felicity felt a boiling sense of annoyance at the absurdity of that comment.  
“He's a drug addict Tommy, an _addict_ , his control is already distorted. You had to have known something like this could happen” Felicity could hear the lecture seeped through her voice, but she was powerless to stop it “when were you two going to grow up? You think everything is a game, you think every girl is there to be wooed, every debauchery there to revel in, every hedonistic whim to be catered to. That's not real life Tommy” she stood abruptly her palms slapping the arm of the chair  
  
“This is real life, this is what happens when all of that shit finally catches up with you” she felt the tears welling in her eyes as she threw her hand back towards Oliver lying on the bed  
  
“It's not your fault” Tommy replied, stepping towards Felicity  
“I know” she replied bitterly as she blinked away  
“It wasn't about you” he spoke softly, taking another step towards her  
Felicity swallowed down the heavy lump in her throat, her lips quivering over the thoughts plaguing her mind.  
  
The last words Oliver had muttered to her in his stupor still hung heavy in her ears  
_I broke the third rule; I fell in love with you._  
“I pushed him away” she whispered, her words laced with guilt  
“Oliver's demons existed long before you” Tommy lay a gentle hand on her shoulder  
  
“This wasn't because of you” he assured her for a third time as his arm eased around her shoulders  
  
She took a sharp inhale as she allowed herself to melt into the welcomed embrace. Her eyes fell back towards the bed where she watched Oliver's chest steadily rise and fall and his eyes blink through his sleep and for that moment she wondered what thoughts were occupying his mind so completely.  
  
**_Note:_**  
**_The following will be memories that Oliver is experiencing. They are not flashbacks as such because he is experiencing the recall of them now, so you will also get snippets of his subconscious thoughts as they stand now (in italics). I hope this reads clear._**

**[10:45pm May 17, 2014]**

  
He was 29.  
29 would be a great year he had decided.  
Perhaps it was the concoction of opiates and free flowing top shelf liquor – or maybe it was the fact he'd just got his dick sucked by a particularly well endowed Brazilian with and exceptionally welcoming mouth – whatever the reason, Oliver Queen had spent the last two days celebrating his 29th birthday and he was positive this would be the best year let.  
  
_How completely fucking wrong he had been._  
  
He zipped up his fly and ran a heavy hand through his quaffed hair. He wore it much longer then, having the hours to spend styling it in the morning and dropping the cash needed to maintain it. He was after all the face of a billion dollar company. He was the image not the brains and frankly, that was absolutely perfect to him.  
  
“Maybe we can meet up sometime” the girl perched on his bed smiled as she fixed her lipstick  
_That wasn't going to happen._  
“Absolutely” Oliver smiled  
She was pretty enough, he couldn't remember her name – to be fair he wasn't trying particularly hard to – but he wasn't in the market for arm candy that lasted more than a night or two. No, 29 wasn't the year to settle down.  
  
“Here's my number” she smiled, as she handed him a folded piece of paper.  
He took it from her long fingers with thickly painted red nails and, without even reading it, he pushed it into the pocket of his charcoal pants  
“Or we could go again now?” she asked, smoothing her palm across the slightly rumpled bed linen  
  
“I would, but there are other _people_ who need me attention here” he replied, his inference not lost on her  
She had look hurt, but Oliver barely noticed, after all he had never promised her any different and he was under no illusion that she was there for the same reason he was – they both wanted something. He wanted his dick sucked, she probably wanted a few minutes in the spotlight and a couple of shots on the tabloid pages.  
  
“My friend Tommy Merlyn has a trust fund that might just rival mine”  
He almost laughed when a spark flickered in her eyes.  
  
He should have felt bad, but that flickering of hope in her eyes removed any guilt he may have lapsed into.  
  
“I'll send him up”  
He walked from the room, one of the many spare ones in the Queen Mansion. He never took a girl to his own room, not any more. He had done that once with a friend of his ex-girlfriend, Samantha was her name and she had clearly thought the week-long 'relationship' had meant something much more.  
  
When he had somewhat unceremoniously turfed her out she had pretty much gone crazy and trashed the place. He had learned his lesson from that and his room, his sanctum, remained out of bounds.  
  
Years later and that crazy bitch still sent him professions of love, the more recent ones even containing the sign off which combined her first name with his last.  
  
_\- I forgive you, I love you_  
_~ Samantha Queen_  
  
It had made him laugh at the time, but his mother had insisted he hand the letter over to the authorities and get a restraining order placed on her. Oliver had promised his mother he would, but it hadn't been placed high on his list of priorities, so he hadn't.  
  
“She's all primed” Oliver smirked as he passed Tommy at the top of the staircase  
  
_He had been such a jerk, he knew that now. But three years might not have changed him if not for the events of that night._  
  
The music was loud.  
Bleeding ears loud, but for some reason his ears were drawn to sounds in Thea's room just to his left. He found her with her head buried in the toilet.  
“Who the fuck gave you alcohol?” Oliver laughed as he pressed his foot into her side  
  
She groaned in response to his tedious torture.  
“Oliver I don't feel well” she sighed as she lifted her head an blinked up at him with bloodshot eyes  
  
She was only 19 and he would have seen her spend the weekend anywhere else but here, but she had threatened to call his parents in Madrid with an account of the den of debauchery their house had become should he not let her stay.  
  
Unwilling to suffer through another lecture at the hands of his parents which would result in next to nothing, if he was honest, he'd let her stay. But he was in no mind to babysit her.  
  
“Speedy, for fucks sake, pull it together” he snapped  
“I hate that nickname” she groaned as she curled up on the tiled bathroom floor  
“No you don’t and I'm not getting a citation for supplying alcohol to minors”  
“I'm not drunk”  
“The fuck you're not” he laughed as he helped her off the floor “pull yourself together”  
“Oliver, I had like one beer”  
  
He rolled his eyes as he nodded “sure”  
He picked her up and carried her across the room before he sat her down onto her plush bed. He emptied the waste paper bin under her desk and propped it up on the pillow next to her.  
“Sleep it off Speedy” he winked as he ruffled her hair “don't throw up on that necklace, it cost me a small fortune”  
  
“Just one beer” she moaned, her eyes lulling closed  
  
_Just one beer_  
_Just one beer_  
_He should have noticed her eyes_  
_He should have noticed her laboured breath_  
_He should have noticed._  
_Just one beer._  
  
Oliver glanced back at the canopy bed as he reached the door.  
“Whatever you say Thea” he smirked, popping the lock on the door and closing it with a click ensuring that no one could go in there uninvited.  


**11:30pm**

  
“Did Thea find you?” Tommy asked as he leaned back against the bar  
Oliver shrugged with little thought on the matter as his eyes roved through the sea of people.  
“That girl is drunk as anything, kept saying she only had one beer” Tommy continued, nursing what would be his twelfth drink that night.  
  
“When I find the shit head who gave her booze” Oliver laughed  
“Anyway I told her to go back to her room”  
“Good, thanks man” Oliver replied as he tapped Tommy's shoulder.  
Oliver's eyes spotted a tall blonde he was almost certain he hadn't charmed yet and like that he was gone.  
  
_Block it._  
_Block it out._  
_He had seen enough._  
_He knew what the early hours of the morning held._  
_Block it._  
_Block it out._  


**12:05am; May 18**

  
“Oliver”  
His name spoken from behind him was carried through the chill of the crisp air outside. The leggy blonde who had all but promised to let him fuck her in the Jacuzzi looked away as the other, distinctly female voice, called his name a second time.  
  
Oliver rolled his head over his shoulder and was, uncharacteristically, caught off guard by the pursed lips of the face that met him there.  
  
_Samantha Clayton....Samantha Queen_  
He remembered being so insanely angry that she had been there that he had contemplated throwing her from the second level balcony.  
“Who is she?” Samantha ragged, her eyes darting between Oliver and the leggy blonde  
“None of your business” he replied, his tone bitter  
“Oliver, I love you” Samantha cried as her fingers threaded through a necklace that hung down between her breastbone  
  
Oliver's hands rubbed heavily against his face. He may have been drunk or high – or probably both, but this was beyond even sober comprehension.  
  
“We don't even fucking know each other” he couldn't carry through his usual charm, this girl had gone too far  
“I know you care for me”  
“I don't” he snarled  
“Oliver please, what we had was special”  
  
The leggy blonde slipped out from behind Oliver and headed towards the doorway.  
“Alicia, stay. She was just leaving” Oliver remarked, running his fingers into the blonde's hand  
“It's Carly” she replied with a huff “and I'd rather not”  
  
She tugged her hand away and stomped towards the door.  
_Strike out._  
  
“Dammit Samantha, what the hell are you doing here?” Oliver growled as he slapped his palm onto the concrete railing  
“Did you get my letters?” she asked, her fragile eyes honed in on his  
“We're not together Samantha, we never were. We slept together a few times, which clearly, I now absolutely regret, but we are nothing more, nor will we ever be”  
  
_He had been so bitter in his speech._  
_So careless._  
_He knew it the minute he saw the look in her face._  
_He should have been kinder._  
_He should have known._  
  
“You don't mean that” she cried, backing away from him  
“Get the hell out of my house and my life. Stop the letters, stop this stupid obsession”  
  
He should have been kinder.  
“You're breaking my heart” she whimpered  
He said nothing, but his stare was devoid of any emotion.  
“If I threw myself from this balcony would you notice me then”  
_Had he smiled? It was possible._  
“Do whatever the fuck you want” he replied before he walked away leaving her sobbing there  
  
_Block it out._  
_He didn't need to see any more._

**12:23am**

“Oliver?” Thea’s eyes squeezed shut before they slowly opened as her hand clutched his arm  
Oliver shook her off, his eyes searching the crowd for Alicia...no Carly. He tried to remember that.  
“Not now Thea” he grunted in short syllables

 _He should have let her speak._  
_God, why didn’t he let her speak._  
“Room, spinning” she stammered her eyes rolling back  
“Sleep it off speedy”  
_He had been so annoyed and so focused on getting what he wanted._  
_Had she said more?_  
_Had she told him about the pills someone had given her?_  
_Would it have made a difference?_

**12:30am**

The screams.  
They had been so loud.  
_Had the music stopped? No._  
The music was loud, the thumping bass was making his mother’s breath-taking chandelier hung high in the foyer rattle and yet he still heard the screams.

The drugs, the alcohol, the adrenaline – it all made it so hard to focus. Lights were dull, shadows bounced off walls and everything had a hauntingly beautiful haze about it.

Until the world halted and everything screamed into sharp focus.  
She was face down in the pool.  
Her faded jeans were seeped black with water.  
Her matted hair danced atop ripples.  
The glow of the lights beneath the surface created an eerie shadowing around her frame.  
Her tiny frame.  
She looked so small.

He was dripping wet when he reached the edge. Tommy helped him bring her up onto to cold and unforgiving tiles.

He screamed for help.  
_No one moved._  
_Why did no one move?_

He thundered his fist into the tile, breaking bones in his hand and shattering the diamond mosaic.

He tried in vain to remember something, anything, learned about CPR in health class.  
Even if he could have done it perfectly, it would have made no difference.

She was dead.  
He already knew that.

  
**[Day 37: Samoa]**

How could his father do this?  
After everything.  
The pain was tearing at his flesh and trapping his breath in the back of his throat. The necklace held tightly in his hand felt like searing coal against his palm.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” he whispered  
His tears streaked his cheeks.  
He looked over to the steel grey canvas bag and he knew where this was going.

His mother would be disappointed, distraught even but he had no choice, the painful tightening under his skin needed to be released. He needed to feel the escape that only came from a tiny pill.

Felicity.  
She would hate him.  
_No, he didn’t think she had that in her._  
She _should_ hate him. He had tried so hard to prove her wrong, to show her that love didn’t have to be a cruel and bitter trial, he had tried because he wanted, no needed, to believe that himself. He needed that redemption, that he could love in spite of his demons.  
He loved her.

What a foolish notion, he barely knew her.  
She was married.

“Who says I’m a miss?” she had said that night in the bar  
He had played it off as nothing more then banter, but it had in fact been candour.

His hand was bruised from the beating that he had given Cooper but he had no regrets. That man didn’t deserve to kiss the ground Felicity walked over much less be able to call himself her husband. She deserved better.

He hated himself for letting her believe the girls in his room were with him. He was jealous and stupid, but he was also desperately trying to claw back some of his heart that he’d laid bare to her.

He did love her.  
Foolishly.  
She took nothing from him but offered him so much.  
He did love Felicity.  
But, it didn’t matter.

His eyes tracked back to the bag.  
She was dead.  
His father had betrayed him.  
Felicity had left him.

_He should have listened._

  
**[Day 50: Dunedin, New Zealand]**

He saw her. She looked beautiful. She didn't see him.  
She had her head low, watching her feet as she walked.  
He hated when she did that.  
She should walk with her head up, she had no reason to hide her face from the world. It was stunning.  
  
For a moment he considered talking to her, laying it on the line...  
_Felicity, I know I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you and there are probably a million reasons why I shouldn't be admitting this to you, but I love you. I know it like I know that the nights are darker without you. It's hasn't even been two months but I would give the world to you in a heart beat...._  
  
He swallowed down the words and watched as the crowds parted idly around her. They didn't even notice her, but he did. Her hair pulled back, the black elastic in her hair was a little lose, making the ponytail hang a little lower than normal.  
  
Her lips were twitching, as though she was practising a speech. They were painted a luscious magenta, much darker on her than he had seen before.  
_God he wanted to kiss her._  
To press his lips softly to hers, brushing against them and lingering in their sweet softness.  
_God he wanted to feel her kiss him back._  
  
His feet carried him through the crowds, he didn't even know why the deck was so crowded. If he was honest he didn't even know what day it was or where in the world they were.  
  
It was beautiful, the sea was a rich blue. Deep and full. Swirling currents made the sea dip and wave in the distance.  
  
The sun was high, but not hot.  
The clouds were large, puffy marshmallows thrown at the canvas of blue.  
He wanted to watch her study them. He wanted to hear her quip about the shapes they made. He wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to feel her touch.  
  
He was less than 10 feet behind her. _Did she know? Did she feel his eyes on her?_  
He sunk back, driving a heavy hand through his hair.  
He was high.  
Desperately high.  
He must have looked it.  
She would know.  
He couldn't let Felicity see him this way.  
  
Oliver turned around and headed back towards the safety of his room. He wouldn't let her see how far he had fallen.

  
**[Present Day: Day 60: Cooktown, Australia]**

“You must be Ms Smoak?”  
Felicity peeled her eyes away from her tablet to see the almost-smiling face of a man she didn't know. She hadn't even heard him come in, _how had someone that rivalled Oliver in size come in the room without making a damn sound?_  
“Ah, yes” she replied before clearing her throat and straightening her glasses  
“My name is John Diggle, we spoke on the phone”  
She thought she might have sighed in relief, for a moment her mind had wandered to a place that she was about to get scolded for something.  
  
“Mister Diggle” Felicity smiled, extending a hand  
“You can call me Dig” he replied taking her hand and shaking it softly.  
  
She imagined he could have a pretty heavy handshake if he wanted but that he was treating her with kid gloves and given the fact her small hand felt swamped in his large hand, she was thankful for that consideration.  
  
“How is he?” John asked, nodding towards Oliver as he released Felicity's hand  
“In and out of lucid state, but they say he'll be fine” Felicity replied, threading her arms across her chest  
  
“He's dreaming a lot” she remarked quietly  
John looked over as her, his eyes willing her to continue.  
“He keeps talking about a _her_ ”  
Felicity didn't know why she was spilling all of this, she hadn't even spoken to Tommy about it when he had come back from packing, but Oliver had looked so grieved even in sleep that she had let the thoughts linger silently in her mind and this was them finally being spoken.  
  
“Mister Queen has a lot of demons” John replied, his words a blanketed answer if Felicity had every heard one  
“So people keep saying” she quipped “I just -” she stopped her words with a soft sigh  
_Did he do this because of her?_  
“It has nothing to do with you” John spoke  
_Was he reading her mind?_ She was so sure she had kept those words deeply internalised  
“I'm sure if Oliver was awake he would be telling you the same thing”  
  
Felicity nodded slowly, although she was unsure she believed him.  
“You should get some rest, I'll stay here with him”  
Felicity managed a small and grateful smile. Tommy had gone to see to Oliver's possession and disembarkment and despite being late for work, Felicity hadn't wanted to leave Oliver alone.  
  
As she looked briefly down at him, she decided there was a high chance she probably wouldn't see him again from this point forward. It made her eyes well up and her breath sink deep into her chest.  
_Goodbye Oliver_ she let the words resonate through her.  
  
“Will you tell him goodbye for me?” she asked, her blue eyes silently begging John to promise the same even if he never delivered on it  
John's lips folded into a soft and gentle smile – much more calming that Felicity had expected – and he nodded slowly. He would.  


* * *

  
Oliver's eyes opened and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. The room was barren, it wasn't his room. He didn't know where he was.  
  
There was something on his wrist and his head was pounding. His vision was foggy but slowly it was coming into focus. He didn't remember much of his last moments. Just flashes, like someone was holding a book in front of his face and flicking through the pages with speed. Blurry images were all his mind could muster.  
  
“Mister Queen?” came a deep voice from beside him  
Oliver shifted his head to see a bulk of a man standing a foot from the side of the bed.  
“My name of John Diggle, we've spoken on the phone”  
  
Oliver sighed, everything suddenly became abundantly clear. He had done something stupid. It had not been his intention, _had it? No,_ but it had happened regardless.  
  
“I remember” Oliver croaked, his voice tight in his throat “what's this?” he asked tugging on the wrist restraint  
“Protocol Mister Queen, you overdosed”  
_God he was blunt._  
“You can call me Oliver”  
“No, I'm not here to be your friend Mister Queen. I'm here because you're a drug addict. You don't need a friend, you need something different”  
“So what are you then?”  
“You'll probably consider me a pain in your ass at first, but if you're serious about your recovery, by the end of it you might consider me a brother. It's up to you how quickly we get through that part”  
  
“Who found me?” Oliver asked, his question was off tangent, but there as a flash of something he hoped wasn't true  
“I believe her name is Felicity”  
_Shit_.  
Oliver's face showed his internal disgust so apparently that if the emotion itself had a face it would be his at that moment.  
He never wanted her to see him like that.  
  
“Does she know?”  
“About what Mister Queen?”  
“Everything” Oliver sighed, his eyes rolling slowly back  
“I don't believe so. That is your truth to tell, or to not tell. Clearly she knows your vices and its my professional opinion that if she means something to you, you should be honest with her, but the end result is that it has to be your choice”  
  
Oliver swallowed a shallow breath. He would gain nothing from telling her and yet, he knew he should. Even if it was for no other reason than she deserved to know unequivocally that she had absolutely no blame.  
  
“What happens now?” Oliver asked, jostling a little in the bed  
“Your room has been cleared and a car is waiting for us to take you to the private jet your mother chartered. You're going back to the States”  
“Home?”  
“No, you will spend some time in a rehab facility”  
Oliver nodded, he understood.  
“I won't kid you Mister Queen it will be the most unpleasant few weeks of your life. You will be challenged and you will be broken. But you will also survive”  
  
“And Tommy?”  
“Mister Merlyn has decided to return stateside with us”  
“And Felicity?” Oliver felt a pang of sadness when her name left his lips  
“I don't know of her plans Mister Queen, but I believe she will stay on”  
_Of course, she works here._  
Oliver smiled, just briefly, but it was there.  
  
“I need to see her, to say goodbye”  
John sighed and rolled his head slowly “Ordinarily I wouldn't allow it, romantic bonds can cloud smart decisions, but I've spoken with her myself and she seems very logical”  
  
“I'll get a message to her, tell her to meet you by the gangway in a few hours, the choice will be hers whether or not to go” John added

* * *

  
  
Oliver waited anxiously at the top of the gangway, he desperately wanted Felicity to come but in his heart he knew he couldn't blame her if she didn't.  
  
There were crowds of people lingering on the deck, most paying him no mind. He didn't see her standing back between the groups, despite his eyes desperately searching for her.  
  
Felicity saw him though.  
She had been standing there for ten minutes. Her feet anchored to the freshly washed deck. Her mind split in two – to go or to not go? There was no answer that was not without its own set of complications and consequences.  
  
But then his face turned and she saw the weight of the world trapped in the furrow on his brow and it everything became screaming absolutes.  
  
The next thing she knew she had fallen into his embrace, her eyes awash with fresh tears, her hands gripping around his neck so tightly and her chin buried deep into his shoulder.  
  
“It's okay, I'm okay” he whispered into her temple as his arms sunk in around her, his hand gently stroking the back of her neck and folding through her ponytail.  
They lingered in the embrace, silently drinking in the comfort of each other's arms for a few more stolen moments until Felicity withdrew and swiped a hand through her tears.  
  
“I'm sorry” Oliver spoke, the remorse evident  
“I didn't know” she sniffed, pushing back lose hair that whipped around her face  
“I know, I kept that from you, but you should know I never did” he paused, struggling with his words “I never took anything when I was with you. When we were together I was just me”  
  
Felicity nodded softly, in her heart she already knew that. She knew the Oliver she had seen, the Oliver she had … loved … that Oliver was real.  
  
“I owe you an explanation” he started, his hand gently smoothing down her cheek  
It felt like silk, _god he had missed that feeling._  
“You don't, really, I just” she sighed softly “I wanted to make sure you were okay”  
  
“The necklace you found, belonged to someone close to me, someone I lost”  
“I had no right to ask you about that, I shouldn't have pushed you, I shouldn't...”  
“Felicity it’s okay, please” he breathed softly “I want to tell you this”

Felicity let a calming smile ease over her lips, she could recognise it in his voice and in the emotion trapped in his breathtakingly blue eyes. He needed her to just listen. She folded her fingers into his and lead him slowly away from the crowds to a small bench seat at the bow of the boat that overlooked the calm waters that surrounded them.

She sat down slowly, laying her free hand onto her lap before she nodded for him to sit down beside her. She watched as he sat his large frame down, his legs stretched out in front of him and his hand still entwined with hers. He took a heavy breath, the weight of his words were etched in the lines that sprung from around his tired eyes.

He had never spoken so openly about her, but Felicity’s softly pouted lips, tipped up into just the right amount of smile and her kind eyes, open to whatever he needed to say, gave him a comfort he had never managed to find anywhere else.

“It belonged to my sister, I bought it for her for her eighteenth birthday. Her name was Thea, but I called her Speedy. A little over a year after I gave it to her I pulled her lifeless body from our swimming pool”  
  
Felicity's eyes blinked back at the gravity of his words, so heavy was his voice that she thought perhaps she had misheard him.  
“Oliver, I’m so sorry, did she drown?”  
“Officially yes, but the truth is she died because I failed her”  
“I’m sure that’s not true” she replied as she squeezed his hand tightly  
“She was my sister and I was too high on life and everything else that I didn’t notice she was in the throws of a bad trip. She asked for my help and I told her to sleep it off”

Oliver dropped his head into his palm as his lids felt heavy with tears.  
“I didn’t listen to her, I didn’t care”  
“Oliver, you didn’t know”  
His mother and countless counsellors had told him the same thing, but for once he finally heard it.  
“But I should have”  
“Oliver” she smoothed her thumb across the back of his hand “The world is full of should haves and maybes, of could haves and might have beens, but all we have is what the past gives us to learn from. Your sister, I bet she loved you and you her”  
“More than anything”  
“Would she see you destroy your life because of her?”  
Oliver shook his head slowly  
“So don’t. We’re not our mistakes Oliver, they don’t define our lives indefinitely. We’re not a summation of every time we have failed or stumbled. What really matters is how we stand up again and what lessons we learn. Don’t let her legacy be tarnished by hurting yourself, live the life she would be proud of, the one she would have wanted for you”

Oliver’s back pressed against the slats of the bench seat as he ran a slow and steady hand through his hair and down his neck. A tear broke free from his eye and he did nothing to stem it. For once it wasn’t borne out of pain, but something more, something different – realisation.

“I’m sorry about Cooper, I shouldn’t have punched him, but you deserve so much better. He’s not a good guy Felicity”  
She lay a gentle hand on his shoulder, pausing his words.  
“I know he’s not, not anymore. Cooper and I aren’t together”  
“You’re not?”  
“No” she shook her head confidently “I’ve learned my lesson. I let him define me for so long, it’s time for me to define myself”

“I know that you think of love as painful and cruel, that you’ve sworn off it, but it doesn’t have to be, love can be enriching, eye opening, it can be beautiful. I hope one day you find the beauty in it. Don’t swear off something that you deserve” his words trailed off into a soft whisper as his hand cupped her face, his thumb swiping slow strokes through the blush.

“I know what I said to you and I’m sorry” he spoke slowly, his eyes funnelled to hers  
“Oliver, it’s okay, I know you weren’t thinking straight” she replied, blinking away, the searching of his eyes too intense that she feared he would see so deep to even the parts she couldn’t

“No, I’m not sorry I said them, I meant it. I know it breaks your rule, but I meant it Felicity, I’ve fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with you” he smiled as the rose in her cheek fluttered across her face, she caught his 90s pop reference  
“I hope one day you find that kind of love. Don’t hide behind walls and fears, see that it can be beautiful. Let the world see beneath that, Felicity let them see you’re beautiful”

Oliver stood up with a heavy heart but a sense of moving forward, for himself, for Thea and maybe, just maybe for Felicity too.

Felicity stood silently, words weaved over the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t, she shouldn’t...so she simply watched.

She watched his hand drop from hers.  
She watched a cavern form between them as he stepped away.  
She watched him.  
She watched him – eyes lingered on her, lips folded over the unsaid, hands desperate to hold on a little longer.  
She watched him place one foot onto the gangway.  
She watched him turn away.  
She watched him leave.

“Oliver?” she called out after him, jolting her body three steps towards him  
He turned, his eyes waiting to hear her speak.  
The words she wanted to say slipped down her throat, replaced with “be safe, get better”

Oliver nodded just once, his eyes dropping low but a small, eternally thankful smile bleeding onto his lips.

She watched him turn around again.  
Another step.  
Another step away from her.  
“Oliver?” she called out again, this time her feet staying anchored where she stood  
He looked back at her, his eyes catching hers.  
“Rules are made to be broken” she whispered, her lips quivering with each word, each declaration  
“Felicity, I..” he started, his eyes raised with questioning  
“I broke it too” Felicity blushed, dropping her cheek into the smallest of shrugs “I love you too”

_I love you._  
_Because of you, I see it._  
_I feel it._

“I love you” she stammered, breathing in sharply as the words fell from her lips  
A small chuckle, a sliver of a smile.  
“I love you” she smiled through the tears  
_I love you._

Oliver closed the cavern between them in two steps. His hands scooped her waist, pressing her body in close to his. His lips crashed into hers, soaked in tears and quivering. They danced, lip with lip, breathy, hot, slow. He drunk her up and she melted into him.

 _I love you._  



	12. The Blush

**[Day 104: Rhodes, Greece]**

  
Felicity stared at the brochure for the exquisitely breath-taking ruins of the Acropolis of Lindos and let a soft wisp of air float freely from her lips. She knew much of Rhodes, it sat near the top of her bucket list of places to see, home to the Knights of St John from the 12th to the 16th Century, the placed was seeped in history and the narrow cobblestones paths beget hours of exploring, but instead this stop found her sitting at a desk on a virtually empty cruise ship (the wine and food tour organised was one, if not _the_ , most popular onshore excursions) thinking about Oliver.

It was a strange pattern of thinking, one which she had spent the last 40 odd days perfecting – if she was to be proud of that sort of thing. Her heart and her mind seemed to be at odds with each other and she could do nothing but bite the inside of her lip (now marred with tiny ulcers where her tick had become too much for the sensitive skin there) and vex the fact she often thought far too often and far too long about things that were not in her power to change.

_Heart_ – was impulsive and desperate. It sought comfort in the silence that had befallen the burgeoning relationship between Oliver and herself. If Oliver remained silent it could only mean that he was still protected, holed up in rehab doing what needed to be done to make sure he could be there to sweep _H_ _eart_ off her feet (in the metaphor in Felicity’s mind, _H_ _eart_ had legs, she had decided not to question in) in some not too distant furrow of dancing fairy lights and soft sultry jazz music (or dulcet crooner music – _heart_ was not particularly worried about Oliver’s possible music choices) on an unmanned island away from everything. It was gooey sweet and; if nothing else; resembled some mismatched reality show marriage between The Bachelor and Survivor. _Heart_ was in desperate need of a reality check.

Or at least that was something _Head_ would say. Because _Head_ was functioning on high alert, sounding the civil defence alarms at every possible chance it got (when _Heart_ had a mind to infiltrate Felicity’s thoughts). _Head_ was intent of reminding Felicity that the old adage ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’ was baseless trite constructed by people who started up long distance relationships and needed to make themselves feel better. Even if there was some basis to that saying, _Head_ was adamant that it didn’t apply in this case. What Felicity and Oliver had on this ship was hot and heavy and fast and crazy and impulsive and encompassing and --- every other word _Head_ could think of to sum up a relationship that was built on a foundation made of sand.

Felicity and Oliver had sex.  
Good sex, _great_ sex, but it was just sex.  
Sure there were languid moments where she felt at rest in his arms and maybe that was how love was supposed to feel, but …. God she hated the but…. There was very little more than that.

Or at least that’s what _Head_ would tell _Heart_ in a futile attempt to stop _Heart_ from breaking when in less than a month they anchored for the last time and Felicity stepped onto the warm Florida soil, took a breath and looked for someone who wasn’t there.

It was better that he wasn’t.  
This sort of relationship wasn’t built to last – that’s what _Head_ said.

The hum of her phone pulled her from her internal monologue as she slipped the phone from the desk into her slim hands. She smiled as a number that had become very familiar over the course of the last six weeks flashed on her display.

“Hello Thomas” she smiled, known the use of such a name would pull something like a heavy grown from the other end of the phone line  
“I feel like I am been scolded when you use that name Felicity”  
“And perhaps you are, you have rung me every week, I do have work to do you know Thomas” she grinned devilishly as she drew out the syllables of his name  
“You’re the only person who sees fit to talk to me sober, apparently I’ve become a bore”

Felicity smiled sweetly, her eyes dancing with a strange measure of pride. Tommy had seen to it to reach out to her and she in turn had offered him somewhat of a shoulder built on witty banter and a listening ear.

“Hush now, I’m sure that can’t be completely true”  
“You would be surprised how quickly the party invitations dry up when word spreads you won’t be bringing the cocaine”

“You’re sticking with it then?” Felicity asked, gnawing on her bottom lip the moment the question fell from them, just like she had done every week when she asked the same question  
And just like every week his answer came quickly “I am”

She breathed out the steeped breath she had been holding.  
“I’m proud of you Tommy, of both of you”  
Her teeth snagged her lip once more, every time she mentioned Oliver, even in passing, she feared the worst news would follow soon.

“He’s doing well Felicity”  
Another held breath crept out.  
She wanted to ask if Tommy was sure, she wanted to know how he looked, how he talked, had he lost weight, was he eating, was he happy, did he talk about her....

Oliver’s rehab did not allow him to talk on the phone with anyone other than immediate family. Visits were allowed and Tommy made the trek once a week, always ringing Felicity shortly after to relay that he was alright and allay the fears that crept into her conscious every so often.

“He’s not skinny, he’s eating well, he’s doing the therapy, he’s as happy and he can be and” Tommy paused  
The silence through Felicity’s ear was like torture.  
“And?” she huffed, a snip of playful agitation caught in her tone  
“And he misses you, same as every week”

Felicity’s lips twisted into a pained smile, it was also so elating to hear that he was well and yet it carried a slight deflate every time she then realised she missed him too.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be out soon”  
She swiped away a tear with the back of her palm, she didn’t wish to talk about that knowing they would still be separated while he attended outpatient care.  
“So, you, what’s new with you?”

“I detect a deflect and subject change” Tommy quipped  
“Allow it” Felicity retorted  
She listened to the shallow sigh of agreement and blinked her eyes slowly in relief.  
“Is there a lady who takes your eye?”  
“It would seem my tastes have changed somewhat without the veil of alcohol”  
Felicity laughed at the overplayed dramatics of his tone.  
“Where do I find myself a woman like yourself?”  
“Tommy you wouldn’t dare be flirting?”  
“Never” he snapped with a boisterous laugh “but if you have a sister”  
“Only child”  
“Cousin?”  
“Not that I’m aware of”  
“Mother?”  
“Don’t even think about it”  
“I sense a story there”  
“Move on Merlyn”  
“Colleagues?”  
“All men I’m afraid”  
“You have to give me something here” Tommy laughed  
“You know I did have a friend back in Central City”  
“Have you been holding out on me Smoak?”  
Felicity took a sober breath, taking the easy banter back to a moment of seriousness.  
“You prove yourself and when I get off the boat in Florida, I’ll give you Caitlyn’s number”  
“Caitlyn? Is she pretty”  
“Prettier than you probably deserve”  
“Smart?”  
“Absolutely”  
She could hear his brain ticking over down the phone line, dispersed with a soft smack of his lips.  
“I can do that” he finally said, a surety in his voice  
“I’m sure you can”  
“Your friend won’t mind”  
Felicity smiled, though such a fact was lost in the exchange.  
“She already knows all about you my dear Tommy, my challenge comes relayed from her lips”  
“That’s fucking genius” he laughed boisterously   
“It’s a deal then?”  
“Tell your friend Caitlyn that it’s absolutely a deal and there will be a plane ticket from Central City to Florida for that day should she need verification herself”  
“I’ll make it known”

A wave of calm silence washed between them, the time for their pleasant banter to draw to a close.  
“Felicity?”  
She hummed softly down the phone _Mmm_  
“He’ll be there too”  
Felicity stalled the load of bricks that sat heavy in her throat. _Heart_ was going to love this. However, Felicity – both as heart and as mind worried that he might return to her different in so many good ways but lost to her on account of that. That his time vanished from her might pour the coldest of water onto the fire that he swore was inside his heart for her. She worried that she would look upon him with ever feeling still perfectly in place, but his completely rearranged; and she would be left to tend to a broken heart that she had sworn not to place in such a predicament again.

Plainly, Felicity worried that in the sober light of dry land, Oliver would realise he didn’t love her at all.

“I better get going Tommy, thanks for the chat” she tried to smile at the obvious manner in which she was blowing him off and a part of her hoped he wouldn’t call her up on it  
“Next time I demand you tell me about your mother” Tommy chuckled down the phone line – her avoidance of most things Oliver related was not lost on him, but neither was it a bear he had any desire to poke

Felicity laughed the universal laugh for ‘ _not going to happen_ ’ before she let out a soft exhale “Talk to you later Tommy”  
“That you will” came his reply before they hung up in unison

Felicity sat with her hands hovered over the keyboard willing herself to do something useful with the time she had left in her shift – 34 minutes to be precise. Tommy had rung earlier this week – a fact which only now came to her attention – his usual time being within 5 minutes of the end of her shift after he had emailed to confirm where she would be the day before.

Today, despite knowing when her shift ended, he called a full 40 minutes before and she hadn’t even thought to call him up on it.

Felicity shook her head, momentarily shaking a few thoughts from it, it was probably nothing – an irrelevant fact her mind was focusing on to try and deflect any thoughts from lingering on what might happen between her and Oliver in the future.

Thirty minutes passed with only a few minor helpdesk fires to attend to. One of which was solved by the standard “ _have you tried unplugging it and then plugging it back in?_ ” fix-all (he had not and it had indeed worked). The second was the ‘capslock-snare’ so many seemed to fall into; and the result of which was a few less strands of hair of Felicity’s head and 8 minutes of “there is a light that tells you if it’s on”.

Finally with less than 5 minutes before her shift was over she watched the clock with narrow eyes. Her phone chirping beside her pulled her from the staring competition she was having with the minute hand.

“Felicity Smoak speaking” she answered, somewhat begrudging the interruption  
“Hearing your voice, it’s just like I remember it”  
 _Oliver?_  
Her lips fell open, a small gasp escaping from between them before she finally found the ability to speak, dragged seconds later “Oliver?”  
He sounded just as she remembered him, it was almost ridiculous to think that 6 weeks would have changed the sound of his voice – but she would be lying if she said the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.

“You haven’t forgotten me then?” she could hear the smile in his voice, a whimsical tone weaved through it  
 _How could I?_  
“Of course not, but-“ she paused to take a slow and deliberate breath, _was he allowed to be calling her? Did him doing so mean he had walked away from his best chance at getting better?_  
“But you’re wondering why I’m calling?” he finished her thoughts  
 _Yes, can you blame me?_  
“It crossed my mind, I thought you weren’t able”  
“While I was in rehab, I wasn’t; and believe me when I say that was one of the hardest things”  
 _When? – did that mean he wasn’t now?_  
“I’m in outpatient care now, the rules are a little more relaxed, in that regard at least” he continued, as though his words were chosen perfectly to be a salve to her concerns  
 _Outpatient, that was good, wasn’t it?_  
“So now I can ring you”  
She was smiling, almost like a giddy teenager and she was never happier that he couldn’t witness such a display.  
“Felicity?”  
 _Yes?_  
“Are you still there?”  
“Oh yes, sorry, I-“ _was talking to myself in my head_ “just thinking of something smart to say” she sighed softly, a slight grimace passing across her lips at how completely awkward she sounded right now

“Felicity?” she caught the rough corners of wanting in his voice  
“Yes?” she replied, swallowing a heavy lump that formed sometime shortly after she heard him speak  
“Could you say my name again?” he asked, almost timid in his request “I’ve missed hearing it from your lips” he continued, offering an explanation she had not asked for

She sunk every worry, ever reservation and every taunting ‘what if’ that was plaguing her from moments before and let his name drip like honey from her lips “Oliver”

His name came with not question and required no response. It was just his name, spoken down a clear phone line to a man just craving to hear it.

“I’ve missed you” he replied, each word pressed together to form one  
“I’ve missed you too, Oliver” she smiled as she added his name

They each drunk in the quite few seconds that followed, enjoying the moment for different reasons, known only to them.

“I have something for you” Oliver said, jovially breaking the hush  
“You’re not ordering me food again?” Felicity laughed with a tumbled shake of her head “although honestly I wouldn’t complain”

“No” she could imagine the smile pressed across his full lips “there is something in my room for you. I want you to go and get it”  
“Oliver, it’s not your room anymore” she corrected, although she noted the irrelevance of her pointing that out soon after the words left her mouth  
“Technically it is, I paid for the whole trip”  
“Wait” Felicity balked, tapping a finger against the arm of her glasses “so it has been empty this whole time?”  
“Yes Felicity” Oliver laughed  
“I didn’t even consider that” she sighed “I could have been sleeping in that heavenly bed this whole time, well shit”  
“You still could”

Felicity let the idea seep into her thoughts – his bed was insanely comfortable and she wouldn’t have to hear the lawnmower-snoring coming from the room next to her current one. The idea of relaxing in the infinity pool during her time off and sinking into the warm confines of that bed at night time without him did nip her conscience just a little, but not enough to not seriously consider the prospect.

“I don’t have a key card and I doubt they would just give me one” she pouted, her dreams about that bordering-on-perfect shower pressure now flittering away

The rapt on the door came just as the last word came from her mouth and she looked up, surprised.  
“Answer the door Felicity”  
“Come in”  
The door pushed slowly open and a porter arrived with a small white enveloped, her name written in black biro on the front of it. He placed it down without a word and disappeared back out the door without even attempting a dialogue that went beyond his short nod of recognition and her quick smile of thanks.

She peeled back the lip of the envelope and held it upside down. The singular content plopped onto the desk – a plastic key card with the ship’s logo embossed on the front and Oliver’s room number on the back.

“Now you have the key”  
“How did you…?” she left the question trail off, she was fairly certain she knew his response would be ‘ _money could buy a lot of things’_

“Go to my room Felicity”  
She felt a sudden swarm of butterflies ignite in her stomach, there was such an exuberance in the way he spoke that she wondered – if only for a second – if she might find him in there.

Felicity shook the thought from her brain, Oliver needed to be in outpatient care and it was selfish to think he could be anywhere else.

The end of her shift had ticked over and she noted that the desk just outside the door to the inner office was now occupied by the next worker. She pressed her phone to her chest as she stood up and rolled her bag onto her shoulder.

“Have a good one Sean” she waved as the slender co-worker looked over the top of his back-rimmed glasses   
“You too” came the mouthed response as Felicity slipped from the IT department and wandered up the hall

Putting the phone back to her ear she listened silently for a second, enjoying the slow and steady breaths she could hear him taking.

“So what will I find in your room, Oliver?”  
She was simply adding his name wherever she could, knowing how he relished it so – his soft sigh after she spoke it that time concreting that fact.  
“A gift”  
“And where did this gift come from?” she asked as she walked through the corridors, taking the familiar route that she remember despite not doing so in what seemed liked forever

“A place that took my money. Why so many questions?” Oliver asked with a soft chuckle sweeping over his words  
“I hate mysteries”  
“It won’t be a mystery once you get there”  
She opened her mouth to retort before snapping it back closed when she realised she didn’t have one.  
“Good point” she quipped

“Are you there yet?” Oliver asked  
“Almost” Felicity replied as she stood directly in front of his door.

She stared at it with heavy, questioning eyes – she wanted to swipe the card, go in and see what all the fuss had been about, but her feet stayed anchored to the heavily patterned carpet and her eyes dared not to blink.

The last time she had stood here, like this, Tommy’s key card poised in her hands, it had been a moment of panic to the point where she was not offered any sort of reflection or time to prepare. And she had _not_ been prepared for what she had found on the other side of the door.

She had been ill-equipped to handle the sudden jolt of air that she sucked in when her eyes fell to him lying _there_. She hadn’t known how cope with the sudden and crushing weight that dropped like an anvil onto her chest.

She had thought him dead and even now, as she wiped back a stray tear and she could hear his soft breath down the phone line – _in and out_ – evidence that he was very much alive and safe; she was terrified to see the same scenario play out before her eyes this time.

“Felicity?”  
She blinked back the stray tears that trickled a crooked path down her cheek.  
“I’m here”   
She slid the card slowly through the lock. The sound of the tiny beep seemed to echo down the halls. The door clicked open and Felicity pressed a flat palm against it to push it open.

Nothing looked like it had the last time. The blemishes had been swept from the room leaving it showroom ready but eerily quiet.

Her eyes fell almost instantly to a box sat atop the glass table, white and secured with a midnight-black ribbon tied in a bouffant bow.

“Do you see the box?” Oliver asked, his voice sounding more distant than it had in the hall, almost like he was whispering to add some sort of suspense to the mystery

“I see it” she replied, rolling her head to the side as she took a few careful steps towards it, the moment feeling like one from a movie where something unexpected was about to pop out and scare a litany of swear words from her  
“Open it” Oliver instructed, the excitement plainly heard  
She narrowed her eyes, searching the room in case her irrational fear proved not to be baseless after all. But no curtain moved and the only shuffle of feet she heard were her own on the tiled floor.

With the phone still held against her ear she used her free hand to slowly pull one end of the ribbon. The satin threaded easily through the bow and a few moments later the box stood regally white and stripped of its contrasting ribbon.

She tapped the box with a sly finger, testing to see whether it might move back of its own volition. She knew the idea was a preposterous one, but her imagination was getting the better of her and something between the quiet creaking of the room (which was not unusual given the perpetual motion of the waves underneath it) and the cheeky excitement in Oliver’s tone, made her unusually suspicious that there was more to this – after all, Oliver had the key delivered to her work, why not just get the box delivered instead. It was basketball size, so not excessively large so as to discount the practicality of such a suggestion.

She pushed the lucid suspicions aside as she lifted the lid – her breath appropriately held and then released as her eyes lit up at the contents of the box.

“Oliver, you, how?” she stammered as she blinked down at the gloriously niche magenta Dr Martins   
“They’re not the same ones you lost, but hopefully a valiant enough substitute”  
“How did you even find someone selling them?”  
“I may have requisitioned a pair be made especially, after you told me that story”  
“Why would you do that?” she asked softly, the smile on her lips travelling through every word  
“I have a tendency to get a little jealous, I didn’t want you thinking about your lost shoes and remembering sex with another man. Very selfish reasons”  
She could hear the light humour in his voice veiling over what she assumed might be a few wisps of truth.

“Well whatever the reasons, I adore them” Felicity gushed, holding one like a puppy to her chest as she toed off her black heels   
“I have something else for you”  
“Oliver I feel like a kid on Christmas and that’s saying something because I’m Jewish” she snorted as she balanced on one foot, her eyes trying to do a quick trigonometry equation as to how to get this new whimsical shoe from a bygone era onto her foot as quickly as possible without falling on her ass “I can’t handle any more presents”

“This one is even better, I hope”  
She blew back a section of hair that fell across her face as she hunched over, one leg crossed across her other knee.  
“I doubt it, these shoes are like everything” she grinned, giving up on her quest as she sunk into a nearby chair

“Just trust me, I think you’ll like this one. It’s in the bedroom”  
Her brows twisted up and her eyes narrowed.  
“You didn’t find the old married guy did you?”  
Oliver let out a hefty but slightly stifled laugh as though he had cupped a hand to his mouth the instant he started to laugh.  
“No, no, god no”

Felicity shrugged to herself as her eyes walked across the room to the bedroom door which was sitting closed.

“So what’s in the bedroom Oliver, lots of lingerie? Are you going to ask me to film trying it on? Because I may not be adverse to that” she spoke as she walked, now barefoot, across the room  
“You wouldn’t be?”  
“Did you see my shoes? I think you bought yourself a sexy skype call” she chatted away as she stopped just outside the door “are you allowed to make sexy skype calls in outpatient care?”

Her slender fingers wrapped around the door handle and twisted it slowly.  
“I’m sure we can do one better than skype” she heard him whisper as the door opened  
 _Only… his voice seemed to echo_  
She looked up and dropped the phone the instant her eyes darted forward – standing back towards the opposite wall, his leg grazing the side of that luxurious bed, was Oliver, holding a phone up to his ear with a brimming smile touching every aspect of his face – from his pulled back lips to the apples of his slightly blushed cheeks and awash through his twinkling eyes.

“Oliver?” his name passed over her lips like a soft exhale made during a dream  
“Say my name again, I’ve missed watching you say it” he pleaded as he tossed his phone onto the bed, the puffy white blanket swallowing it up

“Oliver” she said it with more haste this time as she took two running steps forward and then stopped, a wave of dread piling onto her  
“Wait, should you be here? I thought, do they know?” she asked hurried questions, not waiting for any answers “You shouldn’t, should you? Will they come? How?”

Oliver bridged the gap between them with three small strides before he placed his hands on either of her shoulders. Her eyes lulled closed like heavy blinds as she sighed through his touch. His hands were warm, perhaps even a little clammy, but the electricity from them sent shockwaves down her arms.

“Stop asking questions for just a minute and kiss me, do you understand?” he spoke, just a corner of his mouth lifting up into a smile  
Felicity nodded as her eyes only partially opened, her lids feeling too heavy to allow her to do anything more.

Oliver’s lips gently brushed against Felicity’s relishing their delicate softness for just a moment; as though he was dipping his toe in to test the water before diving in. He hummed lightly at the way her breath misted across his lips when he hovered barely above them.

He kept his eyes open, fascinated by the way she closed hers. Her body pressed up against his as she leaned up on her tippy toes.

He kissed her again, pressing a little deeper this time and catching the muted exhale that rolled across her lips. His hands traversed up her shoulders and swooped over her neck as he deepened the kiss even more.

His tongue licked against her lips finding the taste of her just as he remembered. He knew he muttered her name at that moment as he lathed his tongue back and forth, greedily wanting every hint of her taste for himself.

His thumbs felt like fire against her cheeks, embroiled in the flames that ignited the moment he heard her voice down the other end of the phone line. His hands were hungry to devour her, touch her every place at the same time and anxious that time would steal the opportunity from him.

Her lips parted, letting his tongue invade the sweet, warmness of her wet mouth. His tongue batted lightly with hers, rolling across each other and dipping back and forth like swordplay.

He could feel her body trembling and her eyes fluttering, plagued with the unanswered questions she had asked before. She was tensing in his arms and Oliver knew she would soon pull away, desperate to be put at ease.

“Yes, they know” he smiled against her lips, each word slow and deliberate and allowing her body to relax just a fraction  
His lips pulled back and his nose gently nudged her cheek, resulting in a flash of a smile to dance across her face as her eyes slowly blinked open  
“Yes, I’m allowed to be here” he continued, his fingers lacing around the back of her neck  
“And yes” he smiled as he kissed her forehead “I should be here”

Felicity let her small hands walk down the curve of his broad shoulders and over the rippled muscles of his biceps before sinking in at the sharp curve of his elbows.  
“But with everything, are you sure?”  
She knew her question wasn’t fully formed but as her eyes walked back and forth across his face, studying it, she knew he understood what she was asking.

“There are precautions in place, but Felicity this is the perfect place for me to be right now”  
She bit her lip at the way the word perfect rolled so easily off his tongue.  
His eyes tugged gently inward, so concerned for her appeasement.  
“But I, I might” _hurt you, push you away, make you falter_ the possibilities ran through her head like a barrelling freight train   
“It’s the perfect place for me because I’m far away from the places I use to score, I don’t have the access here that I would anywhere in Starling, and Felicity” he spoke her name like a refreshing waterfall “I’ve taken precautions, you don’t need to worry”

“So” she dropped her chin to her chest before slowly pulling it back up “you’re staying?”  
“Absolutely” he replied without hesitation “but I understand if you don’t want to pick up where we-“  
Felicity pressed her index finger into Oliver’s lips, causing the words he was saying to pile up behind his shut mouth.  
“You talk too much” she winked as her finger dropped from his lip and slid down his chest to fold in around the hem of his tee  
“I don’t feel like talking right now” she smirked as she dove her fingers under the stretch navy-blue fabric

She swiped her tongue across her lips as a display of enjoyment as her fingers grazed over his chiselled physique.  
“How about instead of talking, we do something else with our mouths” she grinned like the Cheshire Cat as one hand skated up his chest and the other shot down his pants.

“Good day Miss Smoak” came a thick and velvety tone from the side of her  
Felicity froze, her hands anchored where she left them as a figure walked from the closet into view.  
“Mister Diggle?” she said as she smacked her lips together, her fingers still buried in the soft, lightly curled, bush at the base of Oliver’s cock  
“You can call me John, or Dig” he smiled, his eyes glancing only for a second to where her wrist was, the rest of her hand obscured by Oliver’s pants  
“You don’t let me call you that” Oliver retorted, gently peeling Felicity’s hand from his chest  
“And I told you that’s because we’re not friends yet Mr Queen”  
Oliver shrugged, a gesture directed at Felicity  
“Meet my precautions” Oliver said as he tugged Felicity’s other hand out from down his pants, his body jolting slightly when she inadvertently gripped her nails into his flesh

“He’s staying with you?” Felicity asked, finally her body moving as she stepped backwards and folded her now-free hands over one another   
“He’s staying in Tommy’s room, but he’s keeping my phone and all of my credit cards. Part of the conditions means I can’t take you off this boat without him, but we can make this work, right?” Oliver’s eyes searched for an answer in Felicity’s as she blinked between him and John

He could tell her mind was ticking over, he had come to adore the way she wore her thinking process so openly – the slight twitch of her lips, the scrunch of her nose and the lines that formed between her brows – every part of it was beautifully comical to watch.

“If you want to” he added, in an effort to speed up the cogs turning in her brain   
“I do” she smiled “want to” she added hastily as if the first two words had been far too indicative of an answer to a different question she was frightened to insinuate

“The wardrobe is all clear of any contraband Mr Queen, I’ll give you two some privacy, but please don’t leave the room without checking with me first” John spoke, the last part of his words directed at Felicity with a calming smile   
“I promise I won’t be a problem Mr Diggle” Oliver spoke, his palms held back against his chest  
“Let’s hope” John replied with just a shift in his eyes before he moved towards the door  
“Nice to see you again Felicity”  
“You too John”

Oliver waited for the click of the main cabin door closing before he swooped his arms around Felicity in one fluid motion and dove his lips onto hers with impassioned haste. His hands skated up to her face, swiping back her hair with long strokes of his fingers.  
“I’ve missed you” he breathed, pressing each word against her warm lips

He slowly pulled his lips back, studying Felicity’s eyes as they flickered open and her lips stayed slightly pouted. His breath ghosted over her misted lips, shiny with the mark of his tongue across them.  
“It’s okay that I came back, isn’t it?” he asked, his thumbs sweeping the apples of her flushed cheeks   
Felicity folded her hands into Oliver’s and gently eased his hands back from her face, interlocking their fingers as she let their hands drop to her waist.

The unsure look that was woven through the lines on his face was more endearing than she expected it to be, the tough bravado of the Oliver who wouldn’t take no for an answer seemed like a lifetime ago. Now he was just Oliver, not weak, but trying to show her something real – and for every part of that thought that scared her, there was an equal part that made her crave it.

But there was something that was troubling her and to ignore it would only allow it to consume her thoughts  
“What if I, we” her eyes wavered between him and the floor “if we can’t make this work and it drives you to do something”

Oliver stepped backwards to see her, their hands still linked and acting like a swing bridge between their bodies.  
“My recovery isn’t dependent on you Felicity, that’s not a burden you have to have strapped to you. Don’t stop being you because you think it’s what I need. Everything about you is what makes me love you”

Felicity swallowed the word _love_ like a heavy brick. She hadn’t heard it spoken in what seemed like uncountable days.  
“You love me?” she asked meekly, terrified the answer might be something other than yes but equally as terrified that the answer would simply be yes  
“I know that I do”  
She could feel the emotion welling behind her eyes. Cooper had been the only other man to bestow the word _love_ on her and she had believed him, even when it had been to her detriment. And yet, even battling those ingrained thoughts, Felicity knew that Oliver meant them in a way that Cooper never could.

She wanted to savour the moment, let _Heart_ take over and allow her to fall back into the helpless romantic that wanted to be swept off her feet and elope somewhere disgustingly tropical and bathed in every form of sweetness that could be afforded – she wanted Valentine’s Day and Cupid to throw up on her; metaphorically speaking – but she held her lips closed with a bite from her teeth and instead offered Oliver a peeped smile that crossed the path from her lips to the iris of her eyes.

“So, I’m finished work for the evening” she finally spoke, deciding the moment needed some levity before she admitted the grotesquely sugary thoughts she was momentarily entertaining   
“I know” he grinned   
“Are you hungry?”  
“Starving”  
His eyes wouldn’t leave her, watching every miniscule movement her hand made across her face  
“Did you want to go get some dinner, or something?” she asked as she glanced back towards the door, twisting her whole body in the gesture  
“I don’t want to leave this room Felicity” he rasped as his hand caught her wrist and spun her back to face him

His lips sunk into hers, his tongue making an almost immediate charge into her welcoming mouth. Her tongue batted lightly against his, brushing it around her mouth as he let the sensation of it creep up his body. His hand fisted into her hair, tipping her head backwards to open up her neck to him.

She moaned softly as her tongue propelled through her titled mouth and his lips massaged into hers, the tiny wisps of scruff along his lower lip were like fine sandpaper against her chin. His free hand pressed a thumb into the elongated side of her neck and found her pulse without delay. The thump of her rapid beat drummed seductively into the pad of his thumb sending a recourse of the same careening down to his engorged cock.

“I have a list Felicity” he panted, the first syllable of her name making his teeth nip into her full bottom lip  
“What’s on this list?” she asked, her eyes staying closed as his fingertips massaged into her scalp   
“Everything I want to do to you” he growled wantonly   
“Where does this list start?” she breathed, batting her nose against his  
“I’m going to kiss your lips a little longer” he ghosted a follow through kiss across her waiting lips “and then I’ll spend some time on that beautiful neck”  
As he spoke a solitary finger drew a straight line down from her lobe to her clavicle, pulling the skin taunt in its wake.  
“That will take some time” she quipped as her teeth gently squeezed in against the inside of her lip  
“I’ve got no place to be” he hummed before her kissed a slow path from her lush red lips to the crease of her jaw  
“Is there more on this list of yours Oliver?”  
“You’ll blush if I tell you”  
“Is that a bad thing?”  
“No, in fact I would encourage it” he pulled his lips away from her ear lobe, flicking it one last time with a roll of his tongue “when you blush it starts here” he smiled as his thumb grazed around the tip of the apple of her cheek

“I’m aware” she smiled, feeling the heat under the pad of his thumb tingling the spot where it grazed   
“It fans out a little up towards your eyes” he spoke, tracing a path with his pinky finger up to the corner crease of her eye, his thumb still hot against her cheek “and they shine just a fraction bluer and that in itself is beautiful”

“And then do you know what happens Felicity?” he asked, still relishing the way his lips flowed freely with her name  
She shook her head softly, brushing her jaw against the palm of his hand.  
“It spreads down too, that beautiful haze of pink blush” his thumb twisted at her cheek as his fingers fell down her face

“It falls onto your lips and its bleeds out into a rich ruby colour at the corners”  
Felicity inhaled slowly as his finger dipped into the corner crease of her lips.  
“And then in falls down your neck, never diminishing in colour as it goes until it fans out like peached fingers when it gets here” he continued to talk as he moved him palm like a wave down her neck until he stopped at her sternum and rubbed his thumb gently into the dip there

“From here it spreads like the first light of morning across your chest. The colour reaches your breasts and they glow with the rich warmth of that first blush. It spreads down between your ribs” he hummed as he drew the line with his index finger over the simple cotton top she was wearing

“Until it finally tapers out around the edge of your core” he smiled as his fingers drew circles around her navel.  
“You’ve given this some thought” she whispered, her voice a little rasped from the heavy breaths she had been inhaling   
“I’ve had a lot of time to consider it”  
“So it’s just a thesis at this stage?”  
“A very sound hypothesis”  
“I suspect you might have to put in some hours of practical theory to prove this hypothesis of yours” Felicity paused her hands at the lower hem of the black cotton v-neck   
“Will you let me study you Felicity?” his eyes grew rich and deep, his tone gripped with a sense of need and his lips twitched with desire

Felicity stepped back, her eyes never once blinking away from Oliver’s before she tugged the hem upwards and over her head, throwing it to the corner of the room.  
“Make me blush Oliver” she quipped as she reached her hands behind her back and unclipped her black satin-tipped bra   
“Yes ma’am” he grinned before he swooped her into an embrace and fell together with her on the bed  
He watched her cheeks fluff as a soft peek of apricot blushed up at the core.  
“There it is” he hummed as his lips delicately kissed the area that had begun to blush “just where I knew it would be”

* * *

  
Oliver’s fingers traced slow circles across the smooth dip of her hipbone as he lay on his side, coupling her head under his arm at peace with the warm calm that was radiating off her.  
“Your skin is so soft” he ghosted the words across her shoulder, echoing them with a smattering of feathered kisses   
Felicity rolled her head, her hair a tumbled halo spread across the pillow as she looked up at him, a silent wonderment caught in her eyes.

There were questions poised on her plump lip, the edges still peppered a light red from the grazes of his stubble.  
“Oliver, did I?” she let her lids fall heavy across her eyes as she rolled her head away, afraid to finish the question, but offering enough of a clue as to what she meant  
“You have no blame in what happened Felicity, I meant what I said when we parted, all you’ve ever given me is hope” he smiled, smoothing his hand against her cheek as he rolled her head back to look at him “

“The charity” Felicity paused as her eyes traced the smile embedded in Oliver’s lips “it was your sister’s wasn’t it?”

Oliver’s smile faded just a fraction as he took a long breath inward and blew calmly out through his lips.  
“Yes, it was. It was Thea’s”  
“And did you know the employee?”  
His smile faded even more; now barely present on his face as he nodded slowly.  
“Oliver, I’m so sorry. God, I wish I could have…”  
His lips met with hers, gently easing the worry from her thoughts and stealing the words from her mouth.

He hummed with pleasure as he pulled back, letting his lips stain hers a little longer before they finally broke free.  
“Don’t go down the path where you have any blame in this Felicity”  
She smiled graciously, her mind thinking for a moment to offer a retort, but his eyes were so clear on the matter and despite her first thoughts, she would let this rest.

“I expected the news to pick it up once the charges were laid, but I never heard a thing”  
“That’s because there weren’t any charges laid”  
Oliver kissed Felicity’s forehead as he slipped out from under the skewed sheet.

“There wasn’t? I just assumed you would, given the amount of money and..” she let her voice trail off, but she had meant to finish the sentence _that it was so personal to you_

“Well I didn’t”   
Felicity propped her body up on her elbows and watched as Oliver he slipped on a pair of briefs, his demeanour still kindly, but just an edge of it seemed frosty at the current topic of discussion.

“You knew the person well?”  
Oliver sighed, sensing this was not something Felicity was going to readily drop and knowing that he had made a promise to be honest with her; which he still intended to honour, despite this not being on his list of discussion topics their first night back together.

“It was my father, her father” Oliver spoke emotionlessly before padding towards the door  
Felicity’s gasp was audible but Oliver didn’t let it slow his retreat from the bedroom.

He heard the rustle of the sheets behind him and swiped a tired hand across his brow, he couldn’t help but admire her inquisitive mind even if it was to his detriment at this moment.

“Oliver, I-“ Felicity stopped talking, realising as she stood in the doorway, hastily wrapped in the white sheet she had unceremoniously torn from the bed, that she really had nothing to offer  
“I know, it’s messed up Felicity. You wouldn’t be telling me anything I haven’t already told myself with that crinkled forehead you’re sporting there” Oliver remarked as he pressed his finger in the crease between her brows “but what do I need to offer you, for you to drop this?”

She furrowed her lips and rolled them from left to right as her fingers toyed with loose strands of hair.  
“Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it” she shrugged, her eyes holding his hostage.

Oliver went to open his mouth, but those words would be a lie – it wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her; it was more he didn’t know how to. There was so much dirtied water under the Queen family bridge.

“He paid the money back, we agreed to keep it between us” Oliver finally answered as he walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water from inside  
The expression on her face told him there was something she was having trouble understanding.

“You don’t think I should have?” he asked as he handed the water to her but she refused with a slight shake of her head  
“I just wonder, if he could so easily pay the money back” she paused, rubbing a finger gently across her temple “Then why did he need the money in the first place?”

_Dirty, muddied water._  
“He used the money for a lease on a condo” Oliver’s palm ran over his jaw before he took a gulp of water “for his mistress”  
The gape in Felicity’s mouth was the reaction he had expected.

“Clearly he couldn’t use his own money, my mother would see it” the snark dripped off every word Oliver spoke  
“Does she know?”  
He had anticipated she would ask that and his next words pained him to admit to her.

“No, she doesn’t”

Felicity tugged up the train of her makeshift dress as she walked towards the bar where Oliver was fisting the water bottle on top of the granite.  
“That upsets you?” she asked, carefully choosing a tone that held no condescension   
“Of course, I’m complicit in this now, but I can’t change it”  
“You could make him tell her, or tell her yourself”  
He shook his head, discouraged.  
“I could tell her and she would detest him, but she would hate me also for bringing that darkness into her light. Every time she saw me she would see that lie hanging between us. I can’t destroy her like that, not after everything else”  
“You’re her son Oliver, she loves you. She rang the crazy girl who gave her an up close look at her ass, just to check on you, she wouldn’t hold your father’s actions against you”

“She wouldn’t want to, but it would always be there. My family doesn’t value the truth quite so highly as you do Felicity, the image in the family portrait is more important, it always has been”

Felicity leaned an elbow against the cool granite and stared with a slightly cocked head at Oliver, blinking her eyelashes like fierce Morse code.  
“You think I should tell her?”  
“You already know my answer Oliver” Felicity sighed as she reached out her fingertips and brushed them over his hand.

“She likes you, you know” Oliver smiled, sandwiching her hand between his  
“Your mother? I don’t see how given the way I introduced myself, ass first” Felicity laughed  
“Well it is a very nice ass Felicity”  
She feigned a blush as she half curtseyed in her sheet dress.  
“She says you appear to have more personality in your little finger than most girls I have dated combined. For my mother, that’s a glowing recommendation. She hopes to meet you soon”

Felicity felt an actual blush heat up her cheeks as she blinked away. Although it quickly settled when her avid fear of love reared its ugly head.  
“That was too much, yes?” Oliver asked as Felicity slowly slid her hand from between his palms   
“It’s not that” she ruminated “it’s just there’s a life after the cruise”

The corner seam of Oliver’s lips pulled back as he smiled briefly.  
“And that’s a bad thing?”  
“No” she sighed as she twisted a finger through the sheet “just something to consider, is all”  
It was something she _had_ considered, numerous times, but hearing Oliver speak of it wasn’t something she had been prepared for. The indecision was rank throughout her insides and her conclusions changed with every minute, sometimes less. No matter how hard she sought it out – Felicity didn’t have an answer to the question of what would happen once she stepped off this boat in Florida.

She wanted to ask if he had considered it and whether his mind was doing the same decision somersault that hers was, but instead she smiled softly and combed a free hand through her hair. That wasn’t a talk for now because she wasn’t ready to have it.

“Felicity” Oliver hummed as he walked around the bar and touched a hand to her sheeted waist  
“Yes Oliver?” she replied with a brisk smile as she arched her back to tip her head to look at them  
“I still have that list to get through” he grinned as his other hand slunk in against her waist also  
“I see” she replied, her tongue slipping out between her lips  
“I’m taking you back to bed now” he remarked as he lifted her in the air and slung her body over his shoulder, the sheet almost slipping entirely from her body

She laughed as her hands pressed into his lower back and her thumbs found tenement in the dimples at his hips.  
“This is most improper I’ll have you know Mr Queen” she stammered between laughs  
“I’ve always been a fan of the improper persuasion Ms Smoak” Oliver replied as he walked into the bedroom and stood at the foot of the spacious bed

He slid her body from his shoulder, the movement of which sent the sheet billowing to the floor before he dropped her body with a light bounce onto the bed.

“Now where were we” he grinned, full teeth with a glaze of mischief in his piercing blue eyes.


	13. The Sin Eater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is a nod to the Arrow episode with the same name, in as much as THIS is what I wanted from that title.

**[Day 112, Provence (Marseille), France]**

“Only the once?” Felicity pouted as she watched Oliver’s ass pad around the bedroom  
“You seemed pretty satisfied” Oliver remarked over his shoulder before he disappeared into the bathroom  
“You’ve made me greedy” she laughed as she lolled around the bed, twisting her body in the luxurious white Egyptian cotton sheets

She couldn’t help but smile to herself as she let the remaining twinges of the last orgasm trickle through her body. She sunk her head into the pillow feeling the lingering heat blushing across her cheeks, the ferocity of her smile making them hurt a little.

The days cruising through the beautiful Greek Islands had been an insatiable whirlwind. They spent almost every waking hour together, sometimes enjoying their quiet company but mostly, if she was being blunt, enjoying each other’s bodies. To Felicity it felt like they were making up for lost time.

But it was more than that.  
She grinned sheepishly to herself, thankful she was alone in the room.  
She felt a completely different sense of peace with Oliver. He was like a puzzle piece that fitted expertly into her life, to the point it made her wonder how she had come this far in life without him.

He had stayed his course for recovery and had answered every question Felicity had posed with almost terrifying honesty. She asked about Thea; and he let her see the raw pain that he was still carrying around because of it. She asked about his fears; and he spoke of letting down the people he cared about.

She too, as best she could, offered him answers to whatever questions he raised. Her mom; _she’s just my mom_. Her dad; _wouldn’t know_. Her ex husband; _well and truly gone._

Her thoughts on love; _nervously optimistic_  
She had noticed the slight dip in the shine of his eyes when she uttered that answer, but it returned when she reminded him of what her thoughts on love had been before he came into her life; and all of a sudden _nervously optimistic_ seemed infinitely better than _poignantly removed._

Felicity eyes tracked towards the doorway to the bathroom when the sound of running taps filled the silent space.  
“What are you doing?” she called out, propping her naked body up on her elbows  
“Running you a bath” he smiled as he appeared in the doorway, his buff arm pushed against the wooden framing causing Felicity to absently lick her lips

“Don’t look at me like that” Oliver chastised with a wide grin  
“Are you joining me in the bath?”  
Oliver shook his head softly “I need to make a few calls and I want you to relax”

Felicity sat up, bracing her shoulders against the headboard as she held the sheet across her chest.  
“Relax? I know we’ve been a little, uh, _active_ ” she laughed “but I’m keeping up”  
“We’ve got a big day tomorrow”  
She looked across the room at him with questioning eyes and her lip softly snagged between her teeth.

“What are we doing tomorrow?”  
“You’ll have to wait and see”  
“Oh-luh-ver” she purred as she rolled onto her side, letting sheet sleep away from her lower half  
“I know what you’re trying to do Felicity”  
She shrugged slyly as she scooted closer to the edge of the bed.

“Tell me what we’re doing tomorrow”  
“It’s a surprise”  
“I don’t like surprises”  
“You will like this”  
She slipped one leg out from the side of the bed and swayed in back and forth, her toe lightly scraping against the tight looped carpet  
“Tell me” she breathed as her eyes widened and stared up at him  
“Your bath is ready” Oliver replied as he tapped the arch of the doorway and disappeared into the bathroom once more

“There are some oils in there I was assured are for relaxation and some weird orange bomb thing that I assume made this insane amount of bubbles” Oliver remarked as he turned off the taps with his back to the door  
“What are we doing tomorrow Oliver?” Felicity asked, slowly enunciating every word  
“I already told you it’s a-“ Oliver’s words stopped abruptly as he finally turned around to see Felicity, completely devoid of any covering, standing in the doorway, one hand on the curve of her creamy waist and the other poised against the archway, just above her head

“Holy fucking hell” Oliver gaped, rocking his head back and forth “that’s not playing fair”  
“So just tell me” Felicity smiled, pulling the arm down away from the archway and idly folding it through her hair.

“This body” he sighed with his palms outstretched, mimicking the curve of her body  
“You’re staring” she mocked as her fingers walked slowly across his broad shoulder  
“You’re tempting me” he surmised as his hand smoothed over the curve of her shoulder before reaching over her to tug a towel from the rail behind

“Sinful” he avowed with a sly smile creeping across his lips  
He wrapped the towel around his waist and sarcastically lamented “What am I going to do with you and your sinfulness?”  
“Eat it” she quipped, earning a raised eyebrow from Oliver.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that how it sounded” Felicity corrected as a blush fanned across her cheeks “I was just reading this book about sin eaters, people paid them to eat food off people”  
“That sounds like a kink book Felicity” Oliver said as his face beamed at Felicity’s sudden grasp for a towel  
“No the people were dead” she argued as she wrapped a towel around her body, suddenly embarrassed at her exposure  
“That sounds worse”  
Oliver guided Felicity to the bath which was almost overflowing with silky orange-tinged bubbles.

Felicity huffed, her breath lifting her hair from her face for a moment.  
“People hired sin eaters to eat food that had been placed on or ritually waved over a dead person, thinking that it would absorb any sins that they didn’t repent before they died, it’s all very fascinating”

Oliver smiled as he gently pulled the fluffy towel away from her body, his thick fingers lingering against her heated skin.  
“I’ll eat all your sins tomorrow, no payment required” he nuzzled the words into her neck “but tonight, you bathe, I’ll order in some food and we’ll relax on the couch before bed”

* * *

  
Forty insanely relaxing minutes later Felicity wrapped the bordering-on-sinful fluffy robe around her supple and velvety soft skin and loosened the top knot bun at her crown. She might try to refute it if he asked, but that bath had well surpassed heavenly and as she ghosted her fingers over a soft yawn, she realised it had been exactly what she needed.

She walked with light feet out to the living space where she found Oliver thumbing through some papers with a heavy crease between his brows.  
“That was amazing” purred Felicity as she combed a hand through Oliver’s tousled hair

She rested her chin on his shoulder and kissed the underside of his jaw in an act that was as tender as it was natural.

Oliver smiled as his hand smoothed up the side of her face and held her head there, his head twisted to peck a kiss against her forehead.  
“Paperwork?” she asked as her eyes wandered across the table  
“Contracts for applied sciences but honestly I have no idea what most of this stuff is” he chuckled, jostling the papers in his hands  
“That one looks impressive, if the specs are right that’s a very impressive power source” she smiled into his shoulder as her forefinger tapped on the edge of a patent-pending design

“You understand this?” asked Oliver as he let his fingers idly thread into hers  
“Sure, that’s a battery cell with an incredible life span, give whoever designed that a pay rise and an ironclad contract” she replied with a brimmed smile as she pulled away, slowly dragging her fingers over the round of his shoulder.

“I could just hire you”  
Felicity balked at the suggestion, giving it little thought as she sat down on the couch and reached for a piece of sushi from the platter on the coffee table  
“You promised me a movie” she cheered as she sunk into the back of the couch

“I wasn’t kidding”  
“You’re not hiring me”  
“And why not? You know this stuff”  
“You don’t even know what my skills are” Felicity quipped before plugging the rest of the sushi piece in her mouth  
Oliver crossed his arms over his chest, cocked his head to the left and smiled.  
“You know what I mean!” she said with a stunted laugh and a ferocious red blush spreading across her cheeks

“Movie now?” she asked as she tucked her feet underneath her and patted the seat next to her  
“Any preference?” Oliver relented as he sat in snug next to her  
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing tomorrow?” Felicity cooed as she uncooked her legs and lay them across his lap

“Felicity” he spoke quietly as he drew idly lines up her legs “I want to play a game with you”  
“Like Uno?”  
“Do you trust me?” Oliver asked as a hand skimmed her face to tuck loose strands of hair behind her ear  
She nodded instantly, not needing any reflection time.  
Oliver turned to lock his eyes with hers. Strong and almost intimidatingly blue they stared her down, seeing into her soul and throwing an anchor there.

“Have you heard of peaking?”  
Felicity shook her head, aside from the common use of the word she wasn’t sure what he meant.  
“I intend to take you to the very edge of an orgasm without letting you tip over into one, multiple times, whenever the fancy to do so strikes, all day long until you can’t take it anymore” he spoke, his eyes wide and his lips flittering into a coy smile

Felicity swallowed heavily, the self-assured confidence in the way he spoke was astonishingly honest.  
“I, um” she stammered for cohesive words “I’m not sure I can”  
“That’s not for you to worry about. I will read your tells, all you have to promise is not to” he leaned in closer “No matter how much you want to” closer, his breath against her lips “touch yourself without my consent” the last word lapped his lips against hers

“So you’re in control?”  
“Yes. You were right when you remarked that I like to be in control”  
“I remember” she said before her tongue did three sweeps of her lower lip  
“Will you let me control you Felicity?” her named slipped from his lips like a whisper

She considered his request carefully with a hitched brow and her lower lip snagged between her teeth.  
“Until?” Felicity queried, dropping her lip for just a moment until she drew it back in  
“Until I tell you it’s time to let go and you have one of, if not _the_ , most explosive orgasm of your life”

She considered it a moment longer, her eyes swimming in the depth of his.  
“So what happens if I agree to this?”  
“You follow my every instruction, no questions asked. You let me do _whatever_ I want, _wherever_ and _whenever_ I want” Oliver hushed as he tucked his nose against her and trailed each word over her lips “and you trust that I will look after you”

Felicity wrapped a finger through his hair, tugging a section gently and pulling a stilted hiss from his lips.  
“Will you hurt me Oliver?” she asked bluntly, their faces touching at their foreheads  
“Never” he responded instantly before brushing his lips over hers “but with a safe word you can make it stop, if it’s ever too much”  
“What word?”  
Oliver’s lips swarmed around Felicity’s lower lips, kissing it softly.  
“In the theme of this sin eater, say the word _full_ and I’ll stop”

Her fingers feathered the sides of his face as her eyes buried deeply into his, searching every unique fleck of blue she found there.  
“Okay” she whispered when she had seen all she needed to within his eyes  
“Okay?” he quizzed, ensuring her agreement  
“Yes, I want to” she remarked as she slowly bobbed her head

Felicity pulled Oliver closer by the hem of his shirt before her hands disappeared underneath and scouted the ridges of his chest. She greedily snapped her lips at his mouth but he pulled away and wrapped his strong hands around her delicate wrists, pulling her hands back from his body.  
“Then no sex tonight Felicity, you have to trust me on that” he said as a smile took over his face  
“Not even a little?” she pouted  
“It’ll be worth it my little sin”

Felicity mirrored his smile before she nestled her head into the couch and nodded towards the TV.  
“Movie then”

* * *

  
Oliver rolled his hand gently through Felicity’s hair as he listened to the muffled noises of her asleep on his chest.

Habitually he kissed the crown of her head tenderly, breathing in the notes of lavender still in her hair. Tomorrow he would watch her more closely than he ever had ever with anyone else. He would watch the way breaths left her supple lips. He would memorise the sight of her pink nipples balling tightly when aroused.

His ears would be attune to every sound she made, his eyes latched onto every slight movement and the fact that she would allow him such was making his body ache with anticipation.

And when the night finally ended with her body completely satisfied, in the morning he would offer her something else...something more...something that he had placed in a box and buried amongst his perfectly ordered socks.

Oliver slowly eased himself from the couch before collecting a heavily asleep Felicity into his arms. She mewled in her sleep as she nuzzled her face into the front of his shoulder.

“Rest tonight” he whispered as he carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently onto the bed, covering her body with the blanket before he padded around to the other side and climbed into bed.

_Tomorrow_

* * *

  
**[Day 113: Barcelona, Spain]**

Felicity yawned and her limbs lightly jolted with a mind of their own as her body, rested and relaxed, finally started to rouse. She didn’t expect to see Oliver when she managed to roll her body onto the other side and blink her eyes across the bed – during the nights she had stayed over, she had learnt that Oliver was an early riser – hideously so.

Her eyes adjusted slowly to the light haze of sunlight that was tickling the edges of the room. She smiled when they adjusted enough to see the note left on Oliver’s pillow.

_At the gym with Mr Diggle_  
_The masseuse will be there at 9:00. I’ll be back afterwards_

Felicity yawned a second time as she stretched her limbs across the vast bed and blinked at the clock, 8:35am stared back at her. Her mind travelled back to the agreement made last night causing a rush of blood to effervesce through her core.

She wasn’t sure what Oliver had planned today and no matter how hard she tried to find clues in what he had said, all her mind kept falling back on was the guttural way he had laid down his _wherever_ , _whenever_ rule.

After watching another few minutes tick over Felicity pulled herself from the warm and soft bed and sidled into the bathroom. After a brisk splash of water of her face and three solid minutes of teeth brushing she heard a tap on the cabin door. Fastening the robe tightly around her body she walked to the cabin door and opened it.

“Miss Smoak?” asked the small brunette with a folded table on wheels propped up next to her  
Felicity nodded, for a brief moment wondering how many times Oliver had sent people to her and if she could recall each time... _three and she could._

Felicity let the masseuse in and stood back as she watched her assemble the white padded table near the piano, alongside the warming morning sun floating in through the large windows.

“Would you like the windows tinted Miss?”  
Felicity shook her head in response “It’s fine” she knew the room was private

“If you can remove your robe and slip under the sheet please” came with a kindly smile before the brunette turned around respectfully.

This was not the first massage Felicity had received and being naked under a sheet in front of a stranger held little to no relevance, so she did as instructed without a second thought and relaxed her body into the massage table, the white cushion swarming around her face as she nestled it into the hole.

The aroma of sweetly scented oils sung around the air and lulled Felicity almost instantly into a deep relaxation.

She had no idea how many minutes had past and she probably couldn’t tease her eyes open even if she wanted to as the massage made her slip into some trance like state of euphoria. The slow back and forth felt like waves across her back, each one rolling in a deeper feeling of ease.

So rich was her euphoric state that Felicity never heard the cabin door opening and closing and nor was she alerted to the footsteps that walked slowly across the room. She did however notice the break in the rolling waves, a moment of calm in the ocean, but it only felt like seconds until hands were on her once again. Her calm returned and she never heard the open and close of the cabin door a second time either.

She stifled a sensual sigh between her lips as the hands worked sweeping lines down her legs. She felt days, no months, of wearing heels melting away from her calves as thumbs worked the muscles at just the right angle.

The masseuse worked the same motion further up Felicity’s thighs, forcing them to spread a little. The movement seemed a little more forced than Felicity had expected and her eyes fluttered open, her mind slowly returning to her body. She would be remiss not to admit that the pressure of the palms kneading into her inner thighs felt amazing and she had to stifle a few more overtly sexual noises that threatened to escape her lips.

Hands moved higher up her legs, cupping in around the underside curve of her ass. She immediately tugged her lip into her teeth to silence a gasp. The act seemed, in her mind, deeply sexual. As her mind was fixating on how she might say something a thumb dove between her folds and pressed her clit with expert precision. She jolted before a heavy hand pushed down on her spine and pressed her body back into the table.

“Whenever, wherever” came softly spoken words into her ear  
“Oliver” she sighed, the colour returning to her face as it relaxed from the shock “You shouldn’t scare me like that”  
“It wasn’t my intention to interrupt, but I saw you” he paused to lick his lip “and I wanted the hands on you to be mine”

Felicity rolled onto her side, letting the sheet slip down her body as Oliver continued to rake his hand up her leg.  
“So now what?”  
“Do you still trust me?”  
“Implicitly”  
“Then let’s continue your massage” he smiled mischievously  
Felicity rolled back onto her chest and smiled to the carpet underneath as Oliver tore aware the modesty sheet.

His hands ravished her body, smoothing and rolling and plying his palm and thumb into her muscles. Every place he touched her sparked to life and sent a lightning shock to her core.

Oliver leaned over Felicity’s body and licked a unwavering path from the base of her neck to the small of her back where his teeth sunk in around the rise of her ass.  
“I’m going to use my fingers this time Felicity, get you nice and wet” he growled the words into her flesh  
She responded with a breathy moan.

One of his strong hands pushed underneath her pelvis and lifted it slightly off the table while the other hand slipped under her core and anchored his palm at her mound. His middle finger found the hood of her clit and lightly moved across it, vibrating it slowly as the fingers on his other hand gently caressed between her folds.

Her clit tightened and swelled as he added his index finger, moving the two in tight crop circles over her sensitive nub as his other hand smoothed strokes into her sex.

Felicity could feel her temperature rising and her walls becoming damp with readiness. Oliver felt it too as it coated the fingers running tracks between her folds. He watched as her pelvis slowly rose from the table and her knees slid a little closer to the rest of her body, naturally opening herself up to him.

His fingers penetrated her suddenly causing her to gasp audibly and her walls to spasm around the arousing intrusion. His other hand kept the rhythm over her clit, sweeping back and forth in tiny circles like a feather.

The juxtaposition of his plunging fingers and the excruciating soft touch of his finger over her clit had Felicity panting within a ten minutes.

Oliver felt her walls constricting around his fingers and he could here the pleasured puffs escaping from her mouth. His fingers twisted inside her, skimming the A-spot towards her spine. She mewled in response, coupled with an arched wave of her back.

“Felicity do you want to come, do you want my fingers to make you come?” Oliver gushed into her ear before he licked the flaming pulse down her neck.

“Yes” she stammered as she rocked herself around his fingers.

The instant the word left her mouth Oliver pulled both hands away from her, instantly severing the soft caress of her clit and the deep forage of her sex.

She whimpered at the sudden loss of stimulant and her pelvis dropped the few inches it had raised up. He watched her hands dance across her skin and down the sides on her body. One hand instinctively disappeared underneath her body replacing the one that had lightly tendered to her clit.

Oliver grabbed her wrist and tugged at the hand before abruptly rolling her onto her back.  
“You’re not to touch yourself Felicity” he warned as he sucked her slender fingers into his mouth.

Her breathing slowed and her eyes fluttered open as her body stayed balancing at the edge of an orgasm. She nodded hurriedly as she remembered the rule from the night before.  
“Good” he hummed, her fingers still caught between his lips

He helped her up and swung her legs over the edge of the table. He stepped over them, pushing her knees tightly together between his upper thighs.

She let out a muted gasp as the act caused her own body to crush in around her sensitive clit.  
“Let your body come down from it slowly” he spoke as his fingers touched her breast like butterfly wings, barely felt.

Her eyes blinked once, then twice more before they opened widely and stared directly into his. The urge in her core was still there but the desire in her sex started to wane as she slowly stepped back from the edge of orgasm.

“What next?” she quizzed as she laced her fingers around the back of his neck.  
“Over to the stool” he said with just a hint of command in his voice

Felicity watched him over her shoulder with a sly smile as she sashayed the short distance to the piano stool. She sat down slowly, crossing her legs at the ankles and leaning backwards until her elbows perched on the closed lid.

Oliver smiled as he walked the same path before dropping to his knees in front of her. He spread her legs open enough to slot his body in there and slowly trailed his hands up her legs until they found tenement at her waist.

Felicity bowed her legs slightly to cross her ankles together and rest them just underneath Oliver’s ass. The slight chaff of his dark wash jeans created a pleasurable friction to weave across her inner thighs when he sat up higher on his knees and pulled her hips towards him.

Languidly his lips edged closer to her stomach, his hot breath fanning out across her bare skin and creating a pond of goosebumps. He darted his tongue from his mouth and lightly drew faint circles just above her navel.

His thumbs pressed into the tops of her legs and forced a weathered moan to escape Felicity’s mouth. The pressure of his hands anchoring her legs was intense but all her mind could focus one was the feather light sweeps his tongue made across her core.

Her heat was flustered, desperately searching for some attention as her ass and pelvis ground into the black pleather stool. His grip tightened, denying her heat contact with anything other than the slightly cooled air that hung between them.

Felicity gasped again, deeper this time, the denial mixed with the stabbing pressure of his thumbs becoming unbearable.  
“Am I hurting you?” Oliver asked as his eyes walked up between her breasts to focus on her face  
“No, mmm-mm, it’s okay” she panted, deciding in a flurry of thoughts that it was the lack of contact between her sex and literally anything that was most unbearable rather than the way his hands had her pinned down

Finally his lips smoothed onto her skin and peppered kisses where his tongue had already scouted. He made a path up her torso until he met with the underside of her left breast. His tongue traced the crescent curve in deliberate motion as his lips ghosted just above the flesh and his steamy breath misted atop it.

Felicity’s head rolled backwards causing her hair to spill like a curtain down her back as peaked moans fell from her lips.

Oliver looked up to watch her as her eyes wavered between open and closed and her lips parted wider. He imagined delving his tongue between those lusciously sweet lips and forgetting this entire game, but he knew that when the night ended and they could both give in to their sexual appetites the release would all the more intense.

The flat of his tongue swiped heavily over her nipple, budding it almost immediately before the tip of his tongue flicked over her nipple then rolled back around to repeat the same action. Felicity clenched her fists into the air with her elbows still steadying her body against the piano.

Oliver sped up the pace, licking over her breast with such pressure that Felicity swore she could feel each taste bud on his tongue scrape over her tightly wound nipple. She twisted and arched, searching for something even she didn’t know what, but desperate for it nonetheless. His grip tightened once more and the idea she might have bruises from it almost titillating in itself.

She found herself honing in on the way his tongue caressed her breast before his mouth swooped it and drew her breast inwards. His teeth lightly nipped at the clenched bud and she crowed his name in response and tightened her grip around his legs in retaliation.

Her breast melted into the warmth of his mouth as her eyes slammed closed and her body gave into it. Tears formed behind her eyes as the pounding heat between her folds begged for something more. Oliver watched as her breath quickened and the sweet apricot blush settled down between her breasts.

He dropped her breast from his mouth with a pop and stood up, releasing the tight grip on her legs. She moaned through gritted teeth as her eyes flung open.

She was barely holding herself together, every limb felt like jelly and her knuckles were white.  
“Oliver” she whimpered, the sound so foreign to her  
She needed release, desperately.  
“Stay at that peak Felicity, let your body languish there” urged Oliver as he combed a soft touch through her hair.  
“I, I, I,” she stammered, searching for anything coherent to say  
“Am I full Felicity?” he questioned, a hint of disappointment weaved through

She took a deep breath and swallowed down the reservations at her conviction to follow this through. It had been less than an hour, there was no way she was quitting this early on. Felicity was no quitter.

“No, no, I’m fine, it’s good” she affirmed, mirrored with a sharp shake of her head  
“Take a respite, get dressed for the day” Oliver announced as he stepped from between her legs

“Comfortable shoes and skirt would be best” he continued  
“You’re making clothing choices for me now? That seems very Christian Grey of you Oliver” Felicity said with a smirk as she gathered her robe from nearby  
“The shoes are common sense, it’s a long walk” Oliver retorted as his fingers folded through her hair and a smile grew across his lips “and the skirt speaks for itself in the circumstance”  
“We’re leaving the boat?”  
“We are”  
Felicity stemmed her excitement, she had been hoping to embark in some sightseeing but she didn’t want to pressure Oliver in case he wasn’t able to.

“Is John okay with that?”  
“It’s a group and he seems to trust you more than me” Oliver replied with a chuckle  
“But if it’s a group, you wouldn’t..” she paused and narrowed her eyes at him  
“Get dressed Felicity, we leave in an hour” he winked

* * *

  
“Is this okay?” Felicity said as she dipped her body in a small curtsey and ran her hands down the sides of the flowing bohemian skirt in hues of burnt red and browns.

Oliver walked closer with his eyes roving up and down her body without a hint of scrutiny.  
“You look gorgeous” he uttered as his hand slipped under the thigh-split and skimmed over her bare leg  
His fingers walked up her leg bunching the fabric where the split ended until they twisted into the side of her panties.  
“Felicity” he hummed, his lips barely and inch from her ear  
She twisted her eyes meeting with his.  
“On the bed” he growled  
But without giving her any time to comply he shuffled her backwards and once her knees hit the bed he tugged them out from underneath her causing her to fall onto the bed in a fit of laughter.

Oliver was smirking but a laugh didn’t cross his lips as he shifted her position so she was lying with her head near the top of the bed and her legs slightly bent at the knees. With little care Oliver tore her panties down her legs, folding one leg through the hole then the other before he threw them across the room.

He pushed her skirt up till it bunched up around her waist like an accordion. Felicity dug her red tipped toes into the soft linen and clasped her hands into the pillow above her head. The two denied orgasms had built her up to a heightened state and just his warm breath in the vicinity of her sex was enough to cause her walls to clench tightly in expectation.

“You’re running hot Felicity, you won’t be able to last the day if you keep this close”  
Felicity pouted her annoyance at his suggestion, he’d set the rules but this wasn’t a challenge she was going to bow out of that easily.

Oliver lingered a heavy kiss against her thigh with his nose nudging slightly into her sex before he stood from the bed and headed towards the door.

“That’s it?” she challenged with a grin  
“Wait there Felicity” was all he said as he disappeared into the living area

She heard the distinctive sound of the icemaker grinding away before Oliver returned with a small stainless steel bowl full of ice cubes.  
“And what are those for?” queried Felicity with a raised brow  
“To cool you down”  
Oliver pinched a cube between his fingers and lifted it from the bowl. He walked it slowly over her bottom lip and she parted her mouth with a fresh gasp.

“Keep it warmed a little for me” he winked as he slipped the ice into her mouth and watched her lips close around it

He trickled fingers down the side of Felicity’s face as he stepped away from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

He cracked the lid on the extra strength mouthwash and comfortably filled his mouth with the cool mint fluid. He jostled it around his mouth for thirty slowly counted seconds before he spat it into the sink and washed it away.

He found Felicity just as he had left her and he proceeded to position himself above her, kneeling between her legs and an arm either side of her body.

“Did you keep it warm for me?” he asked as he ran a thumb across her pinned lip  
She pulled her lips back into a smile as she held the ice, rounded in the corners and decidedly smaller now, between her teeth.

Oliver smiled briskly as he pressed his lips to hers. His crisp mint-tinged breath caught her by surprise as it teased her senses in a decidedly erotic fashion.

Oliver’s tongue wrapped around the ice and he swept it easily into his own mouth before pulling back from the kiss. The ice chilled his entire mouth as he clenched his jaw and held it sandwiched tightly between his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

He sat back on his heels and ran his fingers up her thighs, bending her at the knees and butterflying them open. His fingers easily found her hooded clit and begun teasing it with same tortuously slow miniature circles, twisting it into somewhat of a figure eight.

Felicity reacted also immediately by bracing her palms flat against the headboard and moaning wildly.

When the ice was completely melted he stooped down, placed his hands under her ass and raised her off the bed. His mouth dropped to her heated sex and his lips caved in around her clit.

The shock of his frozen tongue flat against her clit caused a barrage of breaths and curse words to slingshot from her mouth.  
“Fuck Oliver, fuck” she hissed as she ground her ass into the top of his bent knees

The sensation was completely engrossing and any other thought or ability to do anything completely dissipated as she focused only on the crisp mist of his breath swaying through her folds and the lapping of his cool tongue against her tightly budded clit.

One hand dropped from the headboard and gripped into the plush linen, turning her knuckles white.

He was relentless, his mouth littering an array of sensations and movements without respite. She was panting now, her breath scratched and hoarse and she barely-coherently muttered his name mixed with expletives.

It felt amazing and she felt the familiar churning at her core her walls clenching around nothing as his thumb sat just dipped into her entrance without penetration.

She didn’t want him to notice how close she was as he continued his precise rhythm and speed, sucking, licking, flicking and nipping before repeating the same cycle. She wanted to come so bad that she felt the urge all the way from the tips of her toes to the very end of her fingers.

 _Please don’t notice_ her head screamed, desperate for release.  
But as soon as the thought formed in her head Oliver pulled back, leaving his thumb the only real contact between them.

“Fuck” she cursed with her eyes still squeezed shut  
Oliver grabbed a other ice cube, cupped it in his palm, warming it slightly against his skin before he cupped her raging sex and let the ice just barely touch her.

“Shit, oh shit, my fuck” Felicity blabbed  
“You were close that time Felicity” Oliver noted as he licked the taste of her from his lips  
“I know” she stammered, barely making the words audible

Her whole body was trembling when he lowered her pelvis slowly onto the bed. He took the half melted ice and ran it over his lips as he moved her legs down between his own, closing her legs tightly as he had down on the massage table.

She rolled her head back and forth as the severed pleasure sent shockwaves in all directions.  
“Felicity, are you still okay?” he asked kindly  
She nodded, there was no denying that the heightened level of arousal, while bordering on painful, felt amazing.

The pulsing walls of her sex yearned for something more and she found herself making a mirage of his cock inside her but when he rose off the bed and gently lowered her skirt she curled onto her side as stared at him with hungry eyes.

“I can tie you down next time if you need me too” Oliver rasped, the tension in his cock becoming his own burden  
“No” she pleaded, the thought of not being able to dig her nails into whatever object was close seemed more than she could handle  
“Are you going to take care of that?” Felicity dared as she palmed his erection  
“No, it seems only fair that we both experience some delayed gratification”  
“So this isn’t some dom and sub thing?”  
“Not tonight” Oliver explained “We both experience some form of deprivation”  
“Do I get to take you to the edge?” Felicity asked before she snagged her lower lip between her teeth and curved her fingers around his clothed length

Oliver smiled as he caught her arm by the wrist and ease it away from his thumping erection.  
“Seeing you so close to coming because of something I’m doing and not being able to fill you up is tortuous enough Felicity, I wouldn’t last if your hand...”  
“Or mouth” she interject with a glinted eye  
“Fuck” he mumbled under his breath  
“Yes, or that. If those were anywhere near me neither of us would be able to pull back” he finished

“Are you coming down?” he asked as his fingers stroked down her arm  
Felicity moved, the need still tingling through her folds as she sat on the edge of the bed and tugged down her simple black tank top.  
“Yes” she replied “can you pass me those?” she pointed a slender finger at her discarded panties lay near Oliver’s foot

Oliver looked down to where she pointed and shook his head “No, you don’t get those back, I’ve confiscated your panties for the day” he leaned down and placed a quick peck on the tip of her forehead.

“I’m in a skirt” she huffed  
“Let’s hope it’s not too windy then”

* * *

  
It was nearing 1pm when the group of barely 20 people piled back onto the coach after an early Tapas lunch of Patatas Bravas, Empanadillas, Buñuelos and a particularly spicy Pimientos de Padron, a small fried pepper that even after three glasses of water had Felicity’s mouth steaming.

The shopping district of Passeig de Gràcia with its celebrated architecture was next, about a 20 minute journey away. Felicity took a seat near the back where Oliver slid into the seat beside her and put his arm absently around her shoulders. She couldn’t help but smile at the action – so simplistic in nature and yet, a hundred and something days ago she would have recoiled from it, careful to protect her heart; but now she relished it, sunk into it and enjoyed the feeling of it.

There was no mistaking it, her heart had well and truly fallen for Oliver Queen, her head however – when she had the occasion to listen to it – was not so easily swayed.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked, noting the faraway look in Felicity’s eyes  
She turned to him and smiled – it had been at least the fifth time he had asked her that since they stepped off the ship.

Despite her relinquishing ‘control’ of her sexual pleasure to Oliver, Felicity could tell that he took his assurance to keep her safe and happy far more seriously.

“I’m fine” she replied, pecking a small kiss to his cheek – something she had not planned to do, but it simply came naturally  
And she was fine, the food had done wonders to stem the desire between her legs and it was merely simmering there rather than burning like an inferno as it had been when he denied her on the bed.

“Good” he affirmed sliding his hand onto her knee  
Felicity swallowed a lump as her eyes narrowed in on the hand just placed there, balancing on the edge of her knee, his fingers slightly curved into the underside of her leg, his hand completely consuming her knee

 _He wouldn’t?_  
Felicity skated her tongue across her lip, idly folding the same lip back into her mouth as she watched his fingers flex out and then relax, like some sort of trance.

“You shouldn’t do that Felicity” Oliver warned, his breath warm against the side of her neck  
“Do what?” she asked, her eyes staying firmly attached to the hand still laid on her knee  
“Lick your lips like that, it turns me on” he breathed deeply before swiping a daringly lick up the side of her neck “a lot” he continued with a growl

His hand traversed a little way up her leg, revealing her knee as it slipped under the lightweight fabric of her skirt.  
“Oliver don’t” she chastised under her breath  
“You can stop my hand” he whispered  
“How?” she asked, matching the quiet tone of his voice  
“Tell me how you want me to take you tonight” he smirked as his hand creeped higher up her leg

Felicity’s eyes closed in a drawn blink and her whole mouth suddenly dried up. She shifted in her seat as the dampened-down unquenched embers between her legs began to glow red again.  
“I don’t know” she stammered

“Your breasts, do you like it when I kiss them?”  
“Yes” she sighed  
“Do you want me to lick them slowly?”  
She shook her head – she couldn’t stand the sound of _slowly_  
“Shall I bite them, just enough to make you lips part and you back arch?”

 _Shit_  
She could feel her sex sparking to life, the guttural growl of his voice and the words he was saying were sending reverberations beating down to it and all she could do was to clamp down on her lower lip to stop from moaning and press her thighs together like she was doing a Suzanne Somers buns and thighs workout.

“Answer me Felicity” the words melted into her ear as the idle chatter of the other tourists became like white noise  
“Yes, do that, do that” she pleaded as she dropped her chin to her chest, afraid her arousal was written in her expression  
“Do you want me to go down on you?”

 _Shit_  
The way he spoke it was so assured, so calm and collected and she was minutes away from screaming hail mary’s and ripping the clothes that felt like fire, from her body.

“Yes” she hissed  
“Good, I enjoy that, you taste amazing”  
He kissed her earlobe, gently holding it between his lips  
_Shit, shit, shit_  
“How do you want me to enter you, slow or hard?”  
“Hard”  
She replied like it was a lightning round and there were only seconds left on the clock.

She squeezed her legs tighter, recognising the building that was swarming through her core. Her mind was a wash of instantly horrific images of her gipping the chair in front of her and coming undone in front of a bus full of people who she would probably end up constantly run into on the ship.

She tried to think about anything else – anything other than Oliver’s warm breath against her neck. Anything other than the way he growled her name, drawing out the L like a snake. Anything other than the way his fingers were inches from her folds ….

“Where?” he asked  
_The bedroom, the living area floor, hell outside the front door against the corridor wall_

The coach eased to a stop and the tour guide’s chirpy voice cut through the fog in Felicity’s brain like a knife.  
“Tell me later” Oliver smiled as he squeezed her leg and then casually took his hand away.

* * *

  
“So am I supposed to call you sir or Mister Queen?” Felicity whispered with a sly grin caught in the seam of her lips as they stood hand and hand on the street lined with beautifully impressive Gothic architecture, the group paused for now outside the Casa Amatller.  
  
Oliver’s fingers linked a little tighter with Felicity’s as they hung around the back of the walking tour.  
“Despite that being a huge turn on when you purr it like that in my ear, no that’s not necessary _Ms Smoak_ ” Oliver replied, smiling

Felicity closed her lips too late to stop the breathy moan from escaping as she leaned into Oliver and buried her face into his impressively large arm.

“Felicity are you turned on right now?”  
She snorted a response into light blue cotton shirt which he wore over a simple white tee. Between the three denials in the cabin, the teasing on the coach and the light breeze that felt like foreplay between her legs... she was, she definitely was

“Let me feel it” he spoke into her ear, his tone almost a hiss  
Felicity’s eyes widened as Oliver’s hand dropped hers and massaged into her ass.  
_He couldn’t be serious_

While the rest of the group pulled cameras out to line up the perfect shot of the architectural wonder Oliver tugged Felicity back against a cool stone wall and slipped his hand under the waistband of her skirt. Her back stiffened against the wall as her eyes darted about, expecting someone to notice but thankful that no one did.

Oliver moved just one digit between her folds, relishing the way it was slick and moist between them. Felicity could feel each miniscule movement that digit made and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to call out in stark raving lunacy brought on by her disgruntled libido.

She swallowed down the curse words and she held back the bleated cries for something more as he slowly pulled his hand back out the same way.

“You’re soaking” he said, chuffed  
She just stared at him with glazed eyes as he pressed the same digit that had sunk into her folds through his narrowly parted lips.  
“Fuck” she gritted, garnering a stern look from a well-to-doer in her 60s.

“You’re not playing fair, _Mister Queen_ ” she soured  
“Keep calling me that and see what happens” he gingerly warned with hungry eyes

* * *

  
The walk continued down through the amazing sites, with Oliver and Felicity gleefully becoming typical tourists as they posed in front of buildings with bright smiles and carefree eyes.

Before they knew it they had walked some distance and were standing outside the Sagrada Familia, a hauntingly impressive Cathedral which boasted steeples that appeared to reach the heavens themselves.

Oliver drew a heavy breath at the sight of it and Felicity was equally as gobsmacked by both its size and the beautifully ornate carved details that were almost everywhere you looked.  
“Will you come in with me?” Felicity asked, her eyes only blinked away from the structure momentarily to look at Oliver  
The last time Oliver had stepped into anything that might resemble a house of worship had been his sister’s funeral, but he swallowed down the memory of that day like a bitter pill and nodded – it was what Felicity wanted.

“Can I borrow your shirt?” Felicity asked as she tugged on the hem of it “I need to cover my shoulders”  
Oliver nodded once more and shook the shirt from his shoulders. He watched as Felicity threaded her small arms through it and jostled it slightly onto her shoulders. He didn’t doubt that if she wanted to she could probably wrap it quite easily around her body like a bathrobe.

He quickly filed that in his memory bank – he needed to see Felicity in that shirt and that shirt alone in the near future.

They walked hand in hand into the huge expanse of the interior. Large columns grew like tree branches from the floor to the ceiling, spreading out like fingers when they reached the pinnacle.

Ornate and exquisite stained glass windows made stunning rainbows dance across the floor and every sound made echoed beautifully off the marble floors.

It looked nothing like the Starling Church were Oliver’s mother had insisted they have Thea’s funeral, despite the family attending maybe once every year, and yet as Oliver stood there, surrounded by tourists and a distinctly thick air he couldn’t quite explain, everything came crashing down on him, his throat constricted and his jaw tensed.

“Oliver, are you okay?” Felicity asked, noticing the tremble in his hand  
“I’m going to step outside, you stay” he said as he faked a smile  
“Why don’t we both leave” she replied and, without waiting for an answer, she walked towards the doors

Moments later they were stood outside and aside from feeling embarrassed, Oliver felt normal again.  
“What was that?” Felicity questioned as her hand smoothed down his arm  
“It’s silly, but it reminded me of the place we had Thea’s funeral” he sighed, glad to be feeling the air in his lungs once more  
“That’s not silly Oliver, that’s sweet”  
“All the same, you should go back inside, it’s stunning”  
Felicity shrugged softly.  
“I saw enough”

“The guide said we would be staying here for thirty minutes, fancy some power shopping?” she asked, nodding towards a line of designer shops in the close distance.

Oliver smiled thankfully. He was yet to decide what he had done that had aligned his life with Felicity’s, but whatever it was he knew he would be eternally grateful for it and there was no way he was letting this thing end.

* * *

  
“This dress is beautiful” Felicity spoke quietly, as if to herself, as she looked at the stunning dress hung against a fancy backdrop of gold-rimmed mirrors.

It’s style sat somewhere between an evening gown and a party dress. The rose gold sheath dress cut like a heart across the breasts and was cut to curve tightly over the ass, stopping dangerously close to within a hand span of revealing far too much. The overlay of the dress was made of the finest silk chiffon cut and stitched almost seamlessly down the full length of the arms and draped at the back to create a floor skimming train.

All across it were hand-sewn designs, sweeping over curves and taking the eye on a most fanciful journey. To say it was beautiful was an understatement, to say it was exquisitely so, not quite fitting. It was ethereal, perfect.

“So let’s buy it” Oliver replied, his eyes admiring the way he could foresee her body slipped into it  
“Oliver, it’s ten thousand dollars, that’s insane”  
“Only if you don’t have ten thousand dollars”  
“No one should have ten thousand dollars to spend on a dress that would barely cover my ass”  
“Personally I think that’s the best thing about it”  
Felicity laughed as she smack he arm.

“Let me buy it” he said, his eyes searching for approval  
“I don’t need you to buy me things Oliver”  
“I know, you don’t. You’re smart and you’re independent and you are far more equipped at running a company than I am. I don’t want to buy it for you to show my wealth or that I can give you things, I know you don’t need that, and it’s probably trite and foolish and oh so very _trust fund_ , but the truth is I need to see you in that dress. If it was five dollars or a million I’d still feel the same”  
She blinked her eyes, the scepticism slowly melting away with his debonair smile.  
“And, I promise I will donate double that to a charity of your choice when we get home”  
“And you’ll volunteer at a pet shelter”  
Oliver cocked his head to the side and smiled  
“Really?”  
“Really. It’s not always about money Oliver” she said, her hand crossed over her chest but her smile bright and wide  
“Alright, you drive a hard bargain, Can I buy it now?”  
“I suppose so” she quipped with a played-up shrug as she tried to mask her excitement

* * *

  
“Ten minutes to kill” Felicity idly noted as they stood outside the shop, with Felicity trying not to focus on the fact she was holding an extremely pricey mix of fabric and thread in a bag hung from her wrist

Oliver gripped her clear wrist and pulled her down a narrow cobbled alleyway that served as a service entrance to the back of the other shops which ran down the parallel street.

He pulled her around a corner and tucked her in behind a dumpster, her back frim against the wall. She opened her mouth to protest but his lips came crashing down on them like a roll of thunder.

It seemed like minutes flew by as his lips devoured her and his tongue swirled and batted around hers. Gasped moans escaped their lips and melted into the other’s. Oliver’s hands ghosted over her body, still wrapped in his oversized shirt. One sunk in around her neck, anchoring into the hairline there.

The passion engulfed him as he grinded his throbbing erection into her leg, desperately searching for some relief from the pulsed hunger that was eating him alive.

Challenge be damned, if she asked him, and maybe if she even just allowed him, he would take her against the wall right here, right now. Everything she had done that day had built up the love – and lust – he was firmly growing for her.

The way she had trusted him to keep to his word to look after her.  
The way she gave herself over to the pleasures.  
The way she was with him – her laugh, her smile, the blue of her eyes, the way she wore her glasses, the way she bit her lip, the way her eyes widened when she saw something beautiful – it was brick after brick of reasons why he loved her, why he needed her – but the last brick added was the way she didn’t judge him for feeling like he did and the way she put his own needs to leave the Cathedral, above her own – that was all he needed.

No one, ever, had shown him that level of love.  
Not the model, not the Harvard graduate, not the reporter who just wanted her face in the news and definitely not the spoilt trust-funder.  
Felicity was worlds above and poles apart all the others.  
He would never find another even remotely like her – and he honestly believed that he never had a reason to look.

He loved Felicity Smoak.  
He was going to marry her.

“Oliver, wait, not here, not like this” she whispered in his ear, snapping his thoughts back to the present  
“You’re not full yet Oliver” she smiled, gently pushing down her skirt that he didn’t even remember yanking upwards

“I’m sorry, I –“  
Felicity smiled and she pressed her thumb to his pouted lips and held it there, ever so slightly rocking it back and forth.  
“It’s okay, it’s kind of nice to know you’re not completely in control either”

 _Definitely_.  
He was going to marry her.

“We should head back to the group, before I change my mind” she winked as she feathered a hand through his hair.

* * *

 

A few hours later found them walking, still hand and hand, up the gangway as the clock ticked over from late afternoon to early evening, 5:30pm to be specific.

Aside from sly glances and resting his hand kindly at the small of her back, there had been no further liaisons down narrow alleyways, much to Felicity’s relief. Her body deeply appreciating the truce.

“How are your feet?” Oliver enquired  
“Sore” Felicity lamented as her eyes tracked over her dusty feet encased in embellished sandals  
“You have a pedicure booked in ten minutes” he grinned, quite pleased with his impeccable timing  
“Oh-li-veeer” she said as her lips toyed with the sounds in his name  
“I know, I’m not supposed to spoil you, but it’s very selfish reasons”  
She dropped her head to one shoulder and raised a brow at him.  
“I’m deeply attracted to your feet Felicity, I’m hoping you’ll wear heels for me tonight that you leave on, if you know what I mean” Oliver cajoled  
“A nun would know what you mean, subtlety isn’t your strong point”  
“I can ring and cancel”  
Felicity scrunched her toes, the polish chipped and caked in street dust.

“Let’s not be rash Oliver” she said with a broad smile as she fingered the arm of her glasses “It’s already booked”  
“And paid for” he added  
“So it would be wasted otherwise?”  
“It would”  
“I don’t like to be wasteful”  
“Nor should you”  
“Okay, fine, I suppose I can go” she quipped and teamed it with a soft chuckle

“Come back to the cabin after?  
“Actually I was thinking of getting ready in my room and meeting you here” she said, looking around the vast atrium  
“Like our first date” Oliver remarked  
“You told me that wasn’t a date” she pouted “I was so underdressed”  
“It absolutely was, and you looked beautiful”  
She tapped the shopping back and smiled shyly.  
“I wont be underdressed this time” she fluttered a kiss against his cheek “meet me like Jack meets Rose?” she asked comically  
“Absolutely”

* * *

  
It was just after 7:30pm as Oliver waited anxiously near the grand staircase. It was with vivid recall that he remembered feeling the same jittering nerves the night that Felicity had agreed to dinner.

He had felt a twisted mix of ridiculous and nervous. It had struck him then given he had never felt so nervous about a date in his life. He had lambasted the idea of soul mates then but had been unable to shake the sense that Felicity was destined to be something important in his life.

He was wearing navy blue then and tonight he was dressed in a slick black suit paired with a deep ash grey shirt and a slender two-shade-darker tie. The clothes may have been different but the nerves were the same.

He saw her the instant she stepped around the corner, she was a masterpiece. She stole his breath and if he got to look at her moments longer he wouldn’t have cared if he never got it back.

The dress looked every bit as visionary on her as he knew it would. The bodice wrapped around her like body paint and the overdress floated over her body like a halo when she walked. Her hair lay in loose curls with one side pinned back behind her ear.

The reaper could take his soul that very moment and he would have died with a full heart.

“You look...” he stumbled for words other than amazing, stunning, gorgeous “beautiful”  
“Well I certainly don’t feel underdressed” she said with a heavenly blush spreading across her cheeks as her glossy rose-red lips curved up into a smile  
“Beautiful” he repeated, his eyes unwilling to move from her  
“You said that already” she lightly chuckled

She beamed as she twisted just enough for his gaze to fall on the scooped back and her satin smooth skin it revealed.  
“I just, you, that dress”  
“It seems you’ve lost the ability to string a sentence together”  
“Skip dinner?”  
“Oliver” she smirked as her fingers toyed with the lapels of his jacket “I did not get all dressed up for nothing”

The time away from Oliver had certainly dimmed her arousal but the niggling feeling was still very present and seeing him in his dapper suit and slightly tousled hair was having the remarkable effect of bringing that arousal back to the fore.

“Dinner then” he leaned in and skimmed a feather-light kiss at the tip of her cheek before he laced her hand into his and took a few steps towards the restaurant  
“Oh and Oliver?”  
“Mmm?” he hummed in reply as he looked back at her  
“I wasn’t sure about your ‘confiscated panty’ rule” she started  
Oliver’s eyes widened at her inference.  
Felicity smoothed her hands down the silk chiffon dress “So I went without” she spoke softly as the corners of her mouth turned upward “I hope that’s okay”

 _Fuck_ Oliver wordlessly cursed, he was certainly _sinning_ tonight.

* * *

  
Somewhere between finishing the entree of duck breast in brandy sauce and waiting for the main, the two had spoken about a great manner of simple things when Oliver leaned in, took Felicity’s hand and spoke from his heart.

“Thank you”  
“For what?” she asked as her finger ran slowly around the rim of her wine glass  
“For letting me see you, see beneath you”  
“I don’t understand”

Oliver took a breath and fidgeted with his jacket before he leant in again.  
“The first time I sat opposite you like this you told me that I needed to start dating a better grade of woman”  
“I remember” Felicity agreed as she brushed her lightly waved hair behind her ear  
Felicity exhaled through softly pouted lips before she folded them inwards and drew her eyes back up to his.

“I know that it has been sudden and crazy and a little terrifying, but you let me see you, you let your walls come down and you gave, or give me something I want to strive to deserve. I’m serious about you” he simpered, his smile illuminating

“You don’t need to say anything, it’s just as simple as I love you” he quipped as though those three words were made to be spoken from his mouth to her ears  
“I love you too” she replied with a nervous smile, because she did. Even though it was terrifying, it was the truth.

Felicity took a slow sip of her second glass of Dom Perignon Rosé and felt the flush of champagne floating across the tips of her lips as she idly skimmed her tongue across it.

“I told you not to do that Felicity” Oliver cautioned as he leant inches across the table  
Felicity’s tongue scurried back into her mouth as her eyebrows made a hastily apologetic gesture.

He tapped his fingers against the floor length white table linen as a smile crept over his lips. Felicity watched with intrigue as the smile grew more suspiciously.  
“Don’t look at me like that” she said as she rocked her head gently from side to side  
“Like what?”  
“Like you’re going to do something that will make me-“  
Felicity stopped mid-sentence when the unmistakable sensation of something touching her leg yanked the words from her brain and flushed them into nothingness.

“You were saying?” Oliver spoke, the smile weaving up his cheeks and into the glint of his eyes  
“What are you doing?” she mouthed as she shifted slightly in the crushed velveteen chair  
“Wherever” he said with a carefree shrug and the smile still present on his face

Felicity caught her breath as she felt his foot slide up the inside of her. She thought about pulling her chair away from the table and crossing her legs at the knees, but her body betrayed her when he pressed his heel into the edge of her chair, used his bare toes to push back the already very short main sleeve of her dress and then her legs fell open like a magic door that he just whispered the password to.

For only a few seconds she considered how he had managed to discard both his shoe and his sock without her noticing before her mind bounced to wondering how long his legs must be, or how small this table was for the mechanics to work. But all other thoughts were swept under the proverbial rug when she felt the incredible sensation of his toe slicing through her folds with unwavering precision.

Felicity’s mouth fell open as she hurriedly reached for the folded linen-white napkin, slamming the fabric into her face to stifle the moan she couldn’t hold back.

No amount of willpower she had was going to get her legs to close or her body to push away from the table. Oliver had her locked there and her carnal desires were definitely okay with that.

He moved in slow, exacting stokes, up and down, the angle such that it lightly skimmed over the top of her tightly wound clit. Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip as her head dropped into her palms. She could feel the temperature within her rising as every single nerve ending sent rushed messages to her brain.

Her toes curled in the strappy rose gold shoes, her fingers clenched like vices into the napkin, her ears turned crimson and felt like flames sat atop them, her eyes almost watered as she squeezed them shut, her nipples without provocation tightened against the built-in bra and everything else below her waist begged for satisfaction.

She didn’t dare look at the faces of those seated at nearby tables or the waiter that casually strolled behind her chair and she definitely didn’t dare to look at Oliver, who was sitting with his arms neatly folded on the table relishing the way she was absolutely, unequivocally, falling apart at the seams.

He could feel her wetness seeping from her body, and the pulse of the heat radiating from between her legs was intense against the sensitive sole of his foot. He pressed a little deeper and she whimpered, he moved a little slower and her shoulders folded in and for a moment he considered getting under the table and replacing his toe with his tongue just to see what reaction that would garner.

“Oliver” she breathed, her voice ragged and stretched  
He watched as she raised just her eyes at him, her black lashes fanning out and her pupils blown like a deer in the headlights.  
“You’re _full_ ” she begged, the blush of her cheeks as red as the flesh of a perfectly ripe strawberry

Oliver gently tugged on the sleeve of a server as they walked behind his chair.  
“Yes Mister Queen?”  
“Can you have our mains delivered to the other VIP cabin for a Mister John Diggle, tell him I hope he’s hungry”  
“Not a problem Mister Queen, was everything alright with your meals?”  
“Absolutely” Oliver smiled as his eyes walked across the table to meet with Felicity’s “we’re just full”  
The server nodded and left, heading towards the kitchen to relay the message.

Felicity’s body both rejoiced and lamented when Oliver pulled his foot away and, as quickly as he had removed them, he replaced his sock and shoe.

“Can you stand up?” he asked, standing from his chair and walking around to the back of hers.  
Ordinarily she would have thought the question absurd, how could ten minutes of a foot stroking between her legs get her to the point where she had forgotten how to walk?

But as she attempted to do just that, the cumulative effects of every single near orgasm and denial, every tease, every morsel of contact between them throughout the day had rendered her knees absolutely useless for any weight bearing activity.

“I don’t know” she spoke under her laboured breath  
“Take my hand”  
She folded her hand into his as he slowly pulled back the chair before he held back the exquisite train of her dress as she stood.

Despite her reservations, her knees didn’t fail her and she stood, reasonably stable. Oliver linked his arm with hers, giving her a pillar to lean against as they walked towards the door.

Every step felt like sweet torture, her arousal so peaked that she feared a simple breeze might make her drop to the floor in a quivering heap.

Oliver could see the turmoil in her eyes as they entered the elevator and she pressed her body into the back wall. He wanted to touch her, desperately, like he had against the wall in the back alley hours before, but he had taken her far enough for now.

As the doors opened and they stepped from the elevator, Felicity suddenly felt a burst of energy and her body shifted into a fast walk and then into a jog, the beautifully adorned train floating up inches off the ground like a gentle wave.

Outside the cabin door she stopped and fell against the wall and her fingers instantly laced around the back of Oliver’s neck, pulling him down until his lips met hurriedly with hers. She swarmed his mouth with her tongue, licking and tasting every inch of the warm cavern. Her back arched as her hips lifted and her heat grinded against his crotch.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck” she stammered into his mouth, her lips devouring his face  
“We’re not inside” he grunted, his own inhibitions barely pulling him back  
“I don’t care Oliver, just do it here, right here” she pleaded as she raised her leg and hooked it around his ass  
“Holy hell you’re flexible” he remarked as her lips dropped to his neck where she lavished the skin she found there with heated kisses  
“You have no fucking idea” she growled as she writhed her body against him once more

“Not here, not here” he repeated, more as an instruction to himself than an order to her  
He found the key card in his back pocket and flung it through the door lock, ever grateful that the door chirped open immediately.

They twisted and turned and bumped and stumbled into the room before Oliver kicked the door shut with a heavy and echoing thud.

Felicity fell against the wall, knocking the small table beside her over as her hands grabbed the waist of his pants and tore greedily at them.  
“Take these off, now” she demanded as her teeth scraped across the thin threads of veins on his neck  
“Felicity it’s nine thirty”  
“So?” she quipped before she moved her lips back up to his “will you turn into a pumpkin or something?”  
“In half an hour, you will have lasted 12 hours” he explained as he rested his hands on her shoulders and lightly pushed off from her  
“Eleven hours and thirty minutes is fine” she replied before pulling him back down, their lips meeting once more

“All the things you said you wanted me to do”  
“Don’t care. Fuck now” she said, her words stunted  
“I want you to enjoy this Felicity”  
“Put your cock inside me and see how much I enjoy it” she announced, almost a little shocked at her own vulgarity

Oliver smiled as he lifted her into the air with his hands scooping under her ass and causing a hiss from her lips when his thumb brushed between her legs. He carried her to the bedroom as her lips plundered his and her fingers twisted into his hair. He sat her on the edge of the bed and knelt down in front of her.

She almost whimpered when one hand rested on the bed beside her and the other reached for the hidden zip at the side of her dress, every near touch felt like a growing tornado around her.

Felicity leaned back, bracing her arms behind her with her palms sinking flat into the soft covers as she felt the tug of the zipper on her dress and each tiny movement it made down her body. She wished he would move faster but she knew berating him for such would probably just make him move devilishly slow.

The dress slid from her shoulders and exposed her breasts to the cool air that whipped around them. She sighed at the sensation and let her eyes lull closed as she nibbled on her lower lip, smudging the rouge there.

“Lie back on the bed Felicity” Oliver rasped  
She slid back without a word and with Oliver holding tightly on the hem of her dress, her body came out of it completely.

The air felt like a blanket of snow over her naked body as she lay back, naked (apart from her shoes), with her body slightly propped up on her elbows. She watched him with famished eyes as he gently lay the dress on a nearby armchair before he removed his clothes without any ceremony and her knelt down on the bed, positioned between her tented legs.

“Felicity have you ever heard of a Venus butterfly?” he asked as his fingers ran long strokes down her legs  
She shook her head, the sight of her soft curls tumbling over her naked shoulders making Oliver’s mind lose focus for a minute.

“It’s a sexual technique that I want to try”  
Oliver leaned over her and placed a pressured kiss against her mound, his breath misting into her skin “see if we can draw this out a little longer”  
Felicity rolled her lips into her mouth fluidly as her blinking became more haphazard.  
She wasn’t sure she had much more left to give to this little challenge.

“I promise, I will let you climax at the end” he spoke the words directly into her skin making them crawl up her body  
“Do you have a little more to give me Felicity?” he asked as his lips drew a path of gentle kisses up her centre

“Okay” she replied, or whimpered if she was being honest  
“Good” he purred as his mouth circled her breast and his tongue danced with her nipple

Felicity’s head lurched backwards as a groan that she had been stifling for hours chorused out from her mouth. At least here, in the confines of this bedroom, she could be as loud as she damn well pleased.

“So what….is….it?” she asked, her words stunted like a staircase  
Oliver released her breast with a soft plop letting his hand toy with her nipple as he gently lavished some attention on the other breast.

Felicity watched as her breast sunk into his mouth, his lips forming a perfect O around the mound. His bristles felt like soft sandpaper against her skin and she couldn’t help but be enamoured with the way his eyes lay almost closed, his affection for her body evident.

She gasped a little as he unexpectedly skirted two fingers up her sex and parted her lips. His mouth dropped her breast again as he sat back, his eyes closely studying every inch of her naked skin. He licked his lips and her walls clamped around air – the mere sight of it a beautifully languid tease.

“It’s this” he finally replied as his free hand gripped around his fully erect cock and gently brushed against her spread folds.  
Felicity shrieked in pleasure with her arms collapsing and the top part of her back caving into the bed.

Oliver continued his movements, keeping her clit steady with one thumb laid gently along beside it, his other thumb positioned lengthwise just barely across her entrance. His movements were light and whispered against her clit, the head of his cock moving like wings over her hood, veering ever so slightly to 2-o’clock before falling like a slow pendulum back down.

It felt like hours as he continued the same pace, slow, steady, continual and her fingers dug deeper into the bed as her moans became loader and more impassioned. She could feel her body gaining momentum, the heat flashing down her thighs and pulling tight across her body.

She was so close, she may have even muttered words to that effect.  
The day felt like it had been one long orgasm but the end was close – so close  
_So fucking close_

Oliver pulled back, his cock now just out of reach – a scrap of paper could barely fit between them. Felicity’s eyes shot open – although she didn’t remember at what point she closed them – as her body shook through the sudden retreat.

The heels of her shoes scourged the linen as her pelvis lifted off the bed, searching for some sort of contact, some relief, something to push her through to release.

“No hands” Oliver chastised as he pinned her wayward hand – which she didn’t remember moving – to her side after it had ventured between her folds  
“You’re going to make me beg aren’t you?” she panted  
“No Felicity, I’m just going to make to come so hard that twelve hours will have been worth it”

Her head rocked back and forth and her whole body ached, but she trusted him.

Two minutes of come down later, with his fingers lightly stroking the underside of her knees, Oliver once more used his fingers to spread her folds and anchored his thumbs in their previous positions, lined up his cock and gently brushed it against her tightly wound clit.

The sensation was instant and the way Felicity’s eyes rolled back into her head she thought that she had died and was watching herself from the ceiling.

His strokes moved a little faster than before, yet he never pressed deeper and his thumb never entered inside her no matter how much her walls ached for it.

Oliver himself was sweating across his brow and down his spine. His cock was thrumming and the head of it felt like a ball of flames desperate to plunge inside her. To deny her all day had been no easy task for him either, but as he watched the minutes tick closer to 10pm he knew it would be worth it. He would sink deep inside her soon enough and his cock would relish the way her walls would spasm around him when she was no longer denied.

He pulled away a second time, their precum glistening like a beacon on each of their bodies. He licked his lips, wanting to taste her but holding himself back – that would so easily set them both off and it was 9:57.

Her eyes were frayed and her lips gnawed red at the seam. Her hair was splayed around her and her fingers were wound tightly into the fabric. Her body twisted and her breath was littered with sweet needy cries. Crushing his cock between his thighs to stunt his arousal was all he could do to stop himself from plundering her. The pain twisted up through his body but it held the arousal at bay long enough to bring her back down at 9:59pm.

The third time he spread her folds she held her breath, expecting the same repeat of the slow strokes of his cock.  
“Felicity?”  
She grunted a response, sure he was going to tease her a little longer  
“Look at me”  
She lifted her head, raising her shoulders an inch or two off the bed.  
He smiled when he saw her eyes, a breath-taking tangle of arousal, exhaustion, passion and a thread of annoyance.

His thumb traced her entrance and her hips bucked at the sensation before he pressed his cock inside her.

She called out wildly as he filled her completely, her walls finally getting the sensation they have craved for half a day. It felt amazing, like a cascade of pleasure surrounding her body. She felt every ridge of his cock as he pushed deeper inside her.

“It’s ten o’clock” he whispered as his body walked down her and he peppered kisses over her collarbone

_Ten o’clock, the best time in the world._

Her body formed around him, her walls stretching and adjusting until he was buried to the hilt inside her. She moaned at the pleasure that was roving her body as Oliver grunted unrecognisable words into the taper of her neck.

Oliver groaned from his core as he felt the tight and warm confines of her body swelling against his shaft. He could stay buried and still inside her like that and wear a smile permanently on his face.

He eased halfway out of her, sure not to severe the connection, before he thrust back in and his lips feasted on the breathy moan that she called out in response.

His head rode hard against her walls, skimming her in all the right spots that saw her legs tighten around him and her fingers delve onto his scalp.

“Harder” she pleaded as he nipped at her neck a part of him longing to mark her there  
He obliged, slamming his cock deeper inside her, pushing her body across the bed with her head now balancing just on the edge.

“Again” she moaned, her voice twisting through his ears  
His arms wrapped around her shoulders, bracing her hard into the mattress as he pulled back and thrust forward.

The twelve hours of stifled noises were thrown to the wayside as Felicity let every manner of pant and moan fly freely from her body with each thrust. Everything felt amazing.

The bed shook with each thrust as Felicity’s head teetered on the edge of the bed and her hair swept across the carpet.  
“Harder. Faster.” she coached him and he readily complied  
The weight of his body atop hers and the strength of the arm that held her steady felt like the best kind of torture as he continued his relentless thrusting.

She was so close that for a split moment she feared he might stop and deny her once again, until he whispered the decree in her ear.  
“Let go Felicity”

And she did.

Orgasms to her usually felt like:  
a damn breaking;  
a building collapsing;  
a cork popping; or  
a volcano erupting.

 _But this, oh god, this_ her brain concluded, felt like all of those combined on top of discovering the meaning to life.

Her release was powerful and completely spilled over him, coating his buried shaft in a richly warm blanket of Felicity, the sensation of which meant he followed with a hiss and a roar soon after, sending his seed deep inside her.

He continued the thrust, the slick coating of her juices making it for the smoothest and most decadent of sensations. He watched her as her eyes alternated between open and closed and rolled and focused. He drank every kiss she gave him, from the soft peck to the long wet one where their tongues bathed in each other’s mouths.

For stretched minutes he continued to slowly thrust in and out and she continued to clench around him. They kissed and they touched fingers to skin as if discovering every part of each other once more.

Until neither had anymore to give and they broke apart, Oliver falling beside Felicity just as the clock behind him ticked over to 10:46.

Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths as she turned into him and kissed his bicep.  
“You weren’t kidding when you said it would be worth it” she breathed, each word like a heavy effort to utter  
“Twenty four hours next time?” he asked, his eyes staring up at the ceiling as a smile broke over his lips  
“I think I would probably kill you before the time was up” Felicity chuckled as she skated her fingers down the ridges of his chest “plus it seems only fair that next time it’s your turn”

All Oliver’s spent body could muster in response was a half-hearted “Fuck”.

* * *

  
**[Day 114: At Sea]**

Oliver ended the early morning call with his mother and brushed his fingers through his hair before he closed the lid of the laptop and leaned back in the chair, heavy thoughts weighted in his expression.

“Everything okay?” Felicity asked as she propped herself against the doorframe to the bedroom, her body wrapped in a fluffy white robe

“You’re right about my mother needing to know” Oliver said sullenly  
“You told her?”  
Oliver shook his head softly as he rose from the chair as slinked his arms around Felicity’s waist.  
“No, I need to give my father a chance to first and if he doesn’t then I need to and I need to be home when I do to make sure she’s okay”

Felicity ran a soft comb of fingers through his hair and across his shoulder as she gave him the warmest of smiles.  
“I’m proud of you” she offered, no other explanation needed

“Are you hungry?” Oliver asked as he placed a seemingly long-overdue morning kiss against her cheek  
“Famished” she replied gingerly  
“Are you feeling alright after yesterday?”  
“I feel pretty amazing actually” she laughed as she unthreaded herself from his arms and walked over to the fridge

“So you enjoyed it?”  
“Oliver, I’m fairly certain they heard my enjoyment all the way at home” she smiled as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and twisted off the lid “wherever that is” she shrugged indifferently

“That reminds me, I have something for you” Oliver smiled as he disappeared into the bedroom  
“Oliver, really you need to stop buying me things, you’ll make me all spoiled and demanding” Felicity laughed before taking a swig of the cool, refreshing water

“Don’t worry, this is just something I had lying around” Oliver replied as he walked back out of the bedroom holding a wallet sized box  
“Last time you gave me one of these, there was a red pen inside” Felicity smiled, her eyes narrowing in gest  
“It’s not a pen”  
“So what is it?” she asked tapping the lid with her forefinger  
“Just open it Felicity”

She pursed her lips for just a moment before she took the box from his hands and peeled back the lid. Her eyes stared down at the contents, with expressions of confusion and humour bouncing around her face.

“What is this?” she asked as she pulled the key from the black velvet folds and dangled it in the air  
“It’s a key”  
“I can see that, but to what, the liquor cabinet in here? Because I was just kidding when I said it wasn’t fair that it was locked, I totally understand the need for John to take away anything that could become a vice – although sex could become a vice I suppose –“  
“Felicity?”  
“Mmm?”  
“It’s not a key to the liquor cabinet”  
Her brows pulled inward as she sucked her lower lip into her teeth.  
“Then what is it?”  
“It’s a key to my apartment in Starling, I want you to move in with me”

 _Shit_.

 


	14. The Dive

**_I could live_ **   
**_I could die_ **   
**_Hanging on the words you say_ **

**_Don’t call me baby unless you mean it_ **   
**_Don’t tell me you need me if you don’t believe it_ **   
**_So let me know the truth_ **   
**_Before I dive right into you_ **

Felicity stared down at the key, her throat suddenly constricted and her knees felt like they were made of jelly.  
“Felicity?” Oliver peeped, trying to garner her attention with a wave of his hand in front of her face

She blinked up, speechless, then back down to the box, still lacking the ability to make words.  
“It’s a nice place” Oliver remarked, suddenly aware that the silence that hung between them was absolutely not what he had expected

“I said” Felicity stuttered, her hands verging on a shake “I said no big gestures” she said, choking back a sharp breath of air “I said that and you agreed”  
She closed the lid on the box and placed it on the table, her eyes frantically bouncing around the room.  
“I said that, you heard me say that” she repeated, hugging her arms tightly around her slowly wavering frame

“I thought we negated that rule when we said we loved each other” Oliver replied, aware of the fatal miscalculation he had made as he watched her and likened her face to that of a terrified animal facing the barrel of a hunter’s gun

“It still applies Oliver” she quipped, her face turning to one of utter disbelief “I have things to go back to. You can’t just ask this of me”  
“Things?”  
“Yes, things”  
“You said you don’t have a job or a place to live, that you don’t have family there, so what exactly are you so eager to run back to Felicity?”  
“That doesn’t matter. You promised, you heard me say it and you agreed”  
“I agreed not to fall in love with you and look how well that turned out” he snapped, although instantly regretted it when he saw her recoil further away from him

“I’m sorry Felicity, I didn’t mean to sound angry, I’m just trying to understand. You said you loved me”  
“I do” she replied, her voice a faint shadow of what it had been moments ago  
“So this should be simple”  
“It’s not”   
She could feel her chest tightening and the tears forming behind her eyes. She wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t.

“You don’t want to?”  
“It’s not that”  
“Then what is it? Because that’s what it looks like. Felicity I’m one hundred percent certain that I want to live with you, that I want to start a life _with you_. You wanted honesty, that’s what I’m giving you, don’t I deserve it back? Please”

Her shoulder rose slowly as a tear broke free and slid down her ghost-white cheek. He did, he deserved the truth and if Felicity knew it she would give it to him willingly, but she had nothing. Nothing but the gut wrenching feeling that she was not as _nervously optimistic_ as she had thought.

She had no answer for him, just the choked back tears and quivering lips of a heart not yet ready to jump.

Oliver dropped his chin to his chest with a soft bounce and a pain expression, it hurt but her face said it all.  
“I’m more in love with you than you are with me” he spoke softly, his eyes dropped to study the floor beneath his feet  
“Oliver, please, don’t” Felicity whimpered, his words sounding like a haunting reminder of her own _Love is never equal, someone always loves more_  
“It’s okay Felicity” he breathed, finally trawling his eyes back up, they were glazed and his brows were heavy “I don’t mind”

His words tore through her, she had never wanted this – never intended _this_.  
“I won’t push you Felicity, but I also won’t hide what I feel” he sighed softly, the simplicity of his thoughts written in the etching on his face “I love you. _I’m in love with you._ I want to be with you. I want my future to be with you”

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled the only smile he could muster – it was small, but it was honest.  
“I love you and I hope that in 14 days you’ll walk off this boat with me, but if not I understand”  
“Oliver” she breathed his name, letting it softly float off her lips “I’m so sorry”  
“Don’t be sorry Felicity, just promise me you’ll go for what you want, whatever that is”

His head tipped against hers, stilling the moment as they stood forehead to forehead.  
“I just want you to be happy” he breathed, the words ghosting over her eyes as they remained closed

He meant nothing but kindness and his words were spoken with nothing but concern, but _goddammit_ they felt like a two edged sword. Felicity had never wanted this, never meant to be the person that would hurt someone else, but as flashes of the whirlwind affair dotted across her vision like a ‘ _This is Your Life’_ montage, deep down she always knew she had become too much to him and, likewise, he had become too much to her.

And – _how do you walk away from that?_

It felt like time stopped around them and if it wasn’t for the consistent hum of the boat charging through the ocean, Felicity might have believed that true.

It was finally Oliver that spoke up first “I’m going to swim some laps, you can stay or…” he words trailed off as he pulled his head back and instinctively brushed his thumb through a tear that was nestled on her cheek

“I’m just going to get dressed and go” she replied softly, her lips trying to force a smile that was barely half-hearted and her shoulder adding the slightest of shrugs

She stepped away from him and watched as he struggled to keep his hand lodged to the side of his body. Part of her wanted him to stop her, but in reality she knew – right now – there was nothing he could say that would make this any easier.

She wanted to have an answer.  
She wanted to have a reason – an explanation – an understanding…  
She wanted to have _anything_.  
But she didn’t; and so she left – with her head hung low and her eyes desperate to keep the tears at bay.

When she emerged from the bedroom dressed in simple blue skinny jeans and black knit top Oliver was already in the pool, the patio door closed. She watched him for only a minute before she toyed with her glasses, scraped her fingers across her scalp and headed to the cabin door.

She pulled the door closed behind her and the soft click of it was like pulling a splint away from her legs. She stumbled backwards against the hallway wall and threw her hands up to her face as the damn broke and the tears overtook her.

“Why do you have to be this way?” she reprimanded as she rolled her eyes back like a teenager caught in the midst of a sulk “why are you this fucked up that you don’t want to be in love?”

“How did you get to be this person, fuck” she cursed as she titled her head back against the wall and squeezed her eyes closed

“So fucking stupid, so fucking scared” she mumbled, pitifully annoyed at how she had gotten to this place – this dark and dingy cavernous hole where she was too afraid to really fall in love and unwilling to accept that someone just might feel that way about her.

“Felicity?” a deep voice startled her  
She snapped her eyes open to find John Diggle standing there, a gym bag in one hand and what looked like a protein shake in the other

“This just got a whole lot worse” she mumbled, embarrassed at the stream of tears that were burning trails down her cheeks  
“Did he? Are you?” John began to ask, gesturing the protein shake towards the door of Oliver’s room

“No, it’s not him, it’s me. I fucked it all up again” she cajoled with a slow shake of her head   
She exhaled heavily, her ragged breath trying to calm itself as she swiped the back of her hands across her cheeks. Her thoughts turned to Oliver and just how far this may push him and she twisted her head towards his door, staring at it, scared.

“But you should go in there, make sure he’s okay, make sure I don’t push him into-“ she stammered, the hard work that had gone into slowing her breath now ruined as she struggled to get the words out fast enough  
“Felicity, calm down, breathe” John calmly instructed, his words like a guide more than a barked order – a fact which Felicity instantly appreciated

She looked at him and nodded slowly when she had finally regained some semblance of control over her breathing.  
“What happened?” John asked, his eyes keeping a watchful poise over her  
“I think I just hurt him again. I didn’t mean to, but it was too much, I think, I don’t know”  
God she hated how uncertain and confused she sounded – she didn’t even recognise the person she was – or at least she didn’t _want_ to.  
“You should just go in there, make sure that he’s okay”

“How was he when you left?”  
She shrugged, unsure how to explain it “Morose, but not angry. He said he was going to take a swim”  
“Good” John nodded, a hefty, strong nod “exercise is one of Oliver’s coping skills he learned. When he feels stressed or anxious he channels it into that”

_That would explain why, if it were possible, he seemed just that little more ‘fit’ on his return_ Felicity wondered to herself.

She shook the thoughts of his strong, perfectly defined muscles, from her mind. _Now was not the time_ she scolded herself.  
“All the same, you should check on him”  
“Felicity, there is nothing in his room that he can take or use and Oliver needs to learn to overcome situations that are hard. He learned a lot while he was away, you however are in a hallway talking to yourself”

“You heard that huh?” she sniffed as more tears seemed to filter their way to the corners of her eyes  
“It was a little hard to miss” John smiled as he unlocked his door and held it open for Felicity   
She offered a weak smile and an equally as weak shrug before she sauntered into his room.

John followed, kicking the door closed with his foot before throwing his bag onto a nearby armchair.

“This room is just as fancy” Felicity idly sniffed as she realised she hadn’t been in Tommy’s room before this moment.  
“So do you want to chat about the ridiculous extravagance of this room to pass the time or do you want to tell me what has you in the hall crying?”  
“Wow, you don’t mess around” Felicity sniffed, a trademark pout trapped on her lips  
John shrugged and raised his palms upward “I’ve never been a pull punches kind of guy”  
“I don’t suppose there is vodka in that?” Felicity quipped as she pointed a finger at the drink still clutched in John’s massive hand

The moment the words left her mouth she heard them and squeezed her eyes shut as her cheeks flushed a fuchsia pink.  
“No, of course you wouldn’t, you’re a sober coach, you wouldn’t be drink at” she paused to glance down at her watch “nine forty-five in the morning, Jesus Christ” she shook her head in disbelief

“I swear, I’m not this type of person” she muttered as she felt the tears starting to build again  
“Oh god” she said as she fanned her hands desperately in front of her face “I don’t normally cry this much, and now you must think of me as some crazy weeping nutcase who drinks before noon”  
She huffed as she buried her face into her palms and dug her fingers into her scalp

“Felicity it’s fine, why don’t you take a seat” John replied as her nodded towards the couch  
“Like you’re my shrink? No, this is mortifying enough” she paced a small circle and tried desperately to push away the tears faster than they were springing from her eyes “Do you have anything I could fix?”

John looked at her perplexed as he sat down into an armchair and placed his drink onto the nearby table.

“Like a laptop or phone or alarm clock, I just need something to pull apart, tinker with and put back together, it’s that or eat. I stress eat or tinker”  
John tapped a thick finger against his chin, silently considering her request before he stood and strode over to his bag, foraged around for a few moments before he pulled out a tablet and placed it in her waiting hands.

“I keep getting an error message when I try and play Candy Crush” he smiled before he took his seat on the same chair he had vacated moments earlier   
“You play Candy Crush?” Felicity asked with her head tipped a little to her shoulder

“Really? You’re going to judge me?” he laughed, breaking character of the tough surly guy for just long enough to make Felicity smile  
“Point taken” she smirked as she starting tapping away on the tablet clutched between her hands   
“So how about you start from the beginning?”  
“The beginning, beginning or just this morning beginning?” she asked without looking up

“Wherever you like” John remarked as she sat back in the chair and crossed his lumbering legs, making the subconscious conclusion that this might be a long story

Felicity proceeded to start at the very beginning, regaling John with everything from Tommy making out on her desk, to the rules she had so carefully orchestrated. She skimmed the edges of her failed marriage to Cooper and, more bluntly than she usually cared to admit to even herself, she spoke about the defences she had set up – the walls she had built (or in this case, the rules she had set down) – to make sure she was never in that position again.

“And then he asks me to move in with him, I lost my mind, told him it was too much, said some other stupid things and he just stood there and took it all, told me he just wanted me to be happy, I left and started cursing myself and crying in the hall, which is where you found me” she let out a heavy breath as though a huge weight had been lifted from her chest

“So you’re upset because you don’t believe he loves you or because you believe that he does?” John said bluntly, his eyes cutting to the core of the issue

She opened her mouth to retort his blunt assertion, but there was an undeniable thick thread of truth in it.  
“I, I” she held her breath “I don’t know”  
“So, what do you know?”  
“I know that we’re great together, that he’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met, that being with him is…” she paused to sigh as she ran a languid hand through her hair, her body still tinted in the glow of the night before

“I get the gist, I head as much last night” John smiled as he folded his arms and leaned forward in the chair   
“Oh god, you heard?” she asked, looking up from the tablet screen for the first time since she started speaking   
“I think it’s safe to say a pretty wide radius of people heard that” he smirked as he mildly enjoyed the mortified look on Felicity’s face

“I’m so sorry” she gaped, turning a new shade of embarrassed that was more red than pink   
“It’s fine” he quipped as his broad shoulders jostled with a small laugh “sex is healthy, good sex is even healthier, just maybe remember the walls aren’t completely sound proof here”

“Right, yes” she sighed, still horrifically embarrassed as she returned her eyes to the tablet still in her hands   
“So, are you worried that’s all he wants from you?”  
“No” she responded without hesitation, surprising herself at how easily she knew that  
“Are you worried that’s all you want from him?” John asked as he clasped his fingers in front of his knees  
“No” her response was a little more stilted, but she still firmly believed it

“When he said that he loved you, did you believe it?”  
His questions were becoming harder to answer and she shifted anxiously from one foot to the other, her eyes buried in the screen in front of her.  
“Yes, I believe he means it, at least” she paused to consider her words “I think so” she shrugged softly   
“And when you said it back, did you mean it?”  
 _Yes_  
She had. Absolutely, only…  
“Yes” she replied timidly “only I thought the same with Cooper, I thought he loved me and I loved him and I was wrong, I could be wrong now” she admitted, her brows pinching inwards

“Were you though” John sighed, standing up from the chair, his thick arms bracing his body against the arms of it as he stood “I believe there is more to you and this Cooper than you told me, but I heard enough to know that he was your first love. Just because people change and love is lost doesn’t mean it wasn’t once real. I guarantee he did love you once, and you must have loved him back”

Felicity nodded subconsciously.  
“So maybe you weren’t wrong about it”  
She nodded again, slowly and more deliberate. John was right, for the shit storm their relationship became over the last few years, it hadn’t always been like that, it had been good once, even her tarnished memory knew that much.

“Loving someone doesn’t always mean we love them forever. We love who they are when we are at a point in our lives, sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn’t” John spoke calmly, his voice inflected with a warmth that instantly made the words he spoke so soothing

He stepped in front of her, towering over her for a minute and waiting for her to look away from the tablet and up at him. A few moments past before she relented, looked up and caught the kindness in his eyes.

“Love isn’t about being right every time, it’s about taking a chance. You don’t only fall in love with your forever, sometimes you love the one that’s there. But each time you let that love in you let your heart grow, you learn to know what you need, what you want from the next one” his words were melodic and filled with a hope that Felicity couldn’t muster if she tried

“Until?” she asked  
“Until you find the one that sticks” he offered her a poised smile “each broken heart leads you closer to the one where it’s safe”

“And you think that’s Oliver?”  
John rolled his lips and dropped his head a fraction towards his shoulder “Only you know that?”

Felicity sighed, she had expected that answer.  
“Have you found that one?” she asked, desperate for just an ounce of relief from the questions swarming her head  
“I did” John nodded   
“What happened?”  
“We got married and then like the biggest fool I let her slip through my hands and I lost her”  
“I’m sorry” she peeped   
John held his palms up in a gentle holding gesture   
“But then, she took another chance on me, I married her a second time and I spend each day thanking the universe that she dove in again with me”

“I’m scared of diving in, what if it’s a mistake?”  
“Being scared is how you know you’re alive, a heart that has been hurt is a heart that has lived and learned”

He took a short walked to his bag where he rummaged through it for his wallet and then pulled a polished quarter from inside it before walking the short path back to Felicity.

He held the coin up, letting it catch the sun’s reflection.  
“Take this coin, it’s like your heart. It’s okay to lock it away and keep it safe sometimes, but for it to mean anything, for it to do _any good_ you have to use it. You have to _risk_ it, _spend_ it, _trust_ it”  
He held it down and instinctively Felicity opened her palm

John placed it delicately into her open palm and smiled   
“Our hearts do crazy things like fall in love with people we think we barely know and so we listen to our heads because our heads are the logical ones – only our heads don’t take risks, our heads tell us not to play the lottery because the odds are so crazy, our heads would say putting this coin in a slot machine is tantamount to throwing it in the garbage because it can’t dream or imagine the possibility that maybe, just maybe it might win”  
“So love is like a lottery?” Felicity asked as her finger traced the coin laid in her hand  
“No, the odds are far better than any lottery I know. It can be a gamble, but my god when it works, does it ever payoff” John smiled, a look of whimsy caught in his gaze

“Don’t hide your heart away until it tarnishes, use it”  
“I don’t suppose you could tell me if this risk is worth it?” Felicity asked reluctantly

John breathed a soft exhale as he folded the coin into her palm.  
“It’s your heart Felicity, only you know that”

She nodded softly, she knew he was right. It was a decision she had to make.

“Thank you” she whispered as she handed him the tablet “I fixed it, your operating system was a bit sluggish but it should be good now. You also had a virus in there, but it’s gone and I sent a pretty nasty return to sender trojan which will very much rain on their parade and I locked you up nice and tight, so Candy Crush away” she smiled as she tapped the corner of the black pleather case.

“Thank you Felicity, you’re badass” John smiled generously   
“No need to thank me, I didn’t do anything special, but you…”  
“I just told you what your heart has been telling you all along, think nothing of it”

Felicity smiled thankfully as she backed towards the door.  
“You’re a good man, your wife is very lucky” Felicity said as her hand twisted around the door handle as she opened it and stepped out into the corridor, offering John one more thankful smile   
“I’ll be sure to tell her” he replied with a tip of his chin.

* * *

 

The coin felt like a red hot coal in her hand, scolding her reservations as though they were flesh underneath it. The hall seemed to run out and she found herself standing amidst people scurrying about in Verdant’s atrium.

The doubts were incessant; and yet none of them were focused on Oliver. She saw them as though there were written on top of the heads that walked idly past her…

_You’re not cut out for commitment_   
_You’ll only end up hurting him_   
_Do you even know how to love someone again?_

Her breath felt stuck in the back of her throat and her chest felt like a rubber band pulled so tight it would soon snap.

There was much she had never let herself face before. Her relationship with Cooper had been the one and the _only_ time she had let herself fall completely. He was her first – _everything_ ¬. She had risked it all and dived into love with him. John had been right when he had told her that at one time the love must have been real.

If Felicity let herself dwell on it, those times were amazing, they were fun and they were new and they were _good_. They felt, in her heart, much like she felt with Oliver.

She stared down at her closed palm and imagined the quarter housed there. She had gambled with her heart and in the end she had lost – much more significantly that she had ever cared to think about.

He hadn’t just broken her heart. He had broken her spirit.  
He had made her weak, vulnerable, powerless and she had let him.  
It had taken her to rock bottom before she had the chance to claw her way out of it, which she had – eventually.

She had created a fortress around her heart, walling it off, each brick laden with blood, sweat and tears. She had denied anyone entry, scoffed at even the thought of it, that was until Oliver – and even though she fought herself on every turn, she had absolutely, unequivocally fallen in love with him.

The surprising part was that knowledge of that didn’t scare her.

And then it hit her.  
Her life had to stop being about protecting herself in case she got hurt because all that left you was guarded, and it needed to start being about truly believing that, with him, she wouldn’t be because that – right there – that was what love was supposed to be about.

Taking a chance on a person absolutely worth it.

Her eyes tracked over to the casino and for a brief moment she considered dropping the coin into a slot machine and seeing what would come of it – that was until something else caught her eye. A small lucky dip machine where you fed it the money, twisted the shiny metal knob and a ball with an eraser, a candy necklace or something as equally trivial would come spiralling down the shoot.

So that’s just what she did; and when she plucked the little clear ball from the hole at the bottom of the shoot and saw the prize she had ‘won’ she _absolutely_ knew what she needed to do.

* * *

 

Oliver threaded his arms through the tee as droplets of water caught up in his thick mane of hair scattered through the air after his drawn out swim.

He had hoped that Felicity would have come straight back as soon as she left the cabin but when the seconds dragged to minutes and the minutes dragged to multiples, he knew it had been somewhat foolish to think she would.

Despite the outcome he believed he had made the right choice in asking Felicity to move in with him. He was positive about what he wanted – a life with her – and he had never shied away from going after what he wanted.

He had laid all but one of his cards on the table and he wasn’t about regretting it now.

He padded around the room looking for something to occupy his mind. The anxiety was rife through him and he was installing every technique he had learned in rehab to not let this push him to a place that would see his skin crawl and his body crave something he could not – would not – give it.

So for now he would let the nuances of a sports game take over his brain.

As he reached for the remote three swiftly successive knocks cracked against the outside of the cabin door.

He walked over there, a small amount of hesitation in his steps, before he pulled the door back to reveal Felicity nervously hopping from one foot to the other.  
“Can we talk?” she asked without offering even a half-hearted greeting

Oliver stepped back and opened the door as he tried to get a read on the usual expression she wore across her face, but even as he closed the door behind her and followed her further into the room, he couldn’t quite place it.

She placed her bag on a chair and then walked a few more steps, letting her fingers idly dance across furniture before slapping them back to her side.

“So I need to say a few things and I hope that I can get through them” she bumbled over her words before stopping to take a long breath “and that you can just hear me out”  
“Okay” Oliver said slowly, his eyes a little dubious

“But before I do, I just need to know something?”  
She looked apprehensive and he wanted nothing more than to pull her into an embrace, sink a lingered kiss to her temple and stroke his hands slowly through her hair.  
“Ask me anything” he sighed, holding himself back from doing any of those things  
“Do you mean it? When you say you want a life with me, do you mean it?”

Her eyes were wide, her lips uncolored but the most stunning shade of blushed pink he’d ever laid eyes on.

“I meant it Felicity, I want to be with you, absolutely and completely, I want my life to include you in every way”   
His hands twitched at his side before one strayed and lightly grazed down her arm, melting into her soft skin.

She smiled, her lips pressed together before she let out the smallest of breaths.  
“So John gave me a quarter and he said that you have to risk it to make anything of it” she spoke, her breath hitched and her heart beat slamming through her chest

“I was walking past the casino and I thought about it in my hand, and putting it into a slot machine and just seeing what happens, because that’s what you do right?”  
Oliver nodded slowly, although his eyes made it clear he wasn’t really following her line of thought.

“Sometimes you have to dive in and take a risk, do you know what I’m saying?”  
Oliver shook his head softly as his shoulders raised into a half shrug  
“No, not really, do you need some money?”

Felicity huffed out an exasperated breath, annoyed at her own flub of words.  
“Dig explained it much better, I’m not really sure what I’m saying”

“You want to go gambling?”  
Felicity closed her eyes tightly and counted to three under her breath in a useless attempt to try and calm her nervously-wrecked body.

“That quarter was like a heart and sometimes in life and in love you have to risk it, you have to gamble on something and put a coin in. But then I saw something else, one of those lucky dip things for kids where you put a coin in and you get some silly little plastic toy back”

Oliver raised his brow softly, still struggling to make sense of it, but listening all the same.  
“So I did, and, I um” she squeezed her fists and swiped her tongue across her parched lips. She had prepare a whole speech beforehand but all her words were a jumbled mess of nonsense.

She took a sharp breath and plunged her hand into the pocket of her jeans and wrapped her fingers around the little object she found there.  
Dive.

She dropped to her knees and pulled the small, aluminium ring with a green glass ‘diamond’ perched on it from her pocket.  
“So I won this and I guess I was thinking would you, uh me” she sighed “um, us..”

She could feel the nervous vomit swelling up from her chest, _how was this so hard to just say?_  
“Felicity wait” Oliver spoke, his eyes wide with surprise

“Oh god, I totally misread the situation didn’t I? I thought it would be cute, didn’t think this through, you were just asking about living together not getting married” she stammered, her cheeks burning molten hot and her hands shaking profusely

“No Felicity, it’s not that, its just” Oliver responded, his own words a little stunted and breathy “wait here” he urged

Felicity watched as he disappeared into the bedroom, she slowly pulled herself up off the ground and considered briefly how fast she could make it to the cabin door and sprint back to her cabin, never to emerge again – but her feet were anchored to the ground, thwarting any hope of leaving.  
“I had this” he said quietly as he held out an open ring box  
Inside it, held between white velvet lips, was a stunning platinum ring with a cushion shaped centre diamond and a stepped down haloed diamond on either side. It caught the sunlight from every facet and cast a mesmerising twinkle.  
“Oh my god” Felicity gaped, placing a hand lithely over her mouth  
“I saw it a while ago and all I could think was how it would look on your finger, but I didn’t want to rush”

“Of course you didn’t” she quipped, her lips screwing up in embarrassment “because you barely know me”  
“No, Felicity, I’m not being clear” he sighed “I know what _I_ want, but I didn’t want to push you into this, I asked you to move in because I wanted you to see how good we can be in real life, off this boat, just us, living boring lives. I wanted you to know that we can flourish there and then I was going to give you this”

His eyes tracked down the flawless diamond and his lips softly curved up into a smile.

“I had a whole speech I was working on about how you are the best part of my life and that I want to spend the rest of it with you”  
“Oh” was all she could muster as her eyes darted from him down to the ring and back up again

“That I love you and that if you say yes then I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know that your heart is safe with me, or something much better sounding than that” he smiled

“That’s a good speech”  
“You think so?”   
Felicity nodded before a single tear slipped from her eye but she didn’t even attempt to swipe it away. It was honest. She was scared, but she was alive and this was a risk absolutely worth taking.

“It’s a nicer ring too” she chuckled, letting a breath pass slowly over her lips  
“Yours has character” Oliver joked as he plucked it from her palm and slotted it beside his, dwarfing it instantly   
“Oliver, you should definitely say that speech” Felicity said as her eyes blinked lightly and her plush pinked lips folded up at just the corners in a delightfully soft smile

“Or” he brushed a hand across her cheek “I could ask you now”  
His eyes locked with hers and she didn’t falter, for once there were no alarms, no screaming hesitations and no lyrics of Wicked Game playing in her head.

Oliver took Felicity’s hand into his own and, without breaking eye contact, he lowered himself down on one knee.  
  
“Felicity, your heart is safe with me, I love you. Will you marry me?”  
He left a breath hitched in the back of his throat in anticipation as he watched the smile grow like sunrise across her face.  
“Yea” she replied, coupled with a gentle nod that left her hair to tumble loosely forward

“Yes?”  
“Yes”  
 _That_ was the easiest answer she had ever given.

“What ring do you want?” he laughed, hovering his hand over the two sandwiched rings  
“Well technically the green one is yours”  
Oliver’s eyes shone brightly as he plucked the diamond ring that he had kept squirrelled away and threaded it slowly onto her finger, relishing the way it looked there where it finally reached the end. It was a little loose, but it looked just like he imagined it would

“Are we crazy?” Felicity wondered as she studied the way the ring caught the afternoon sun streaming in from the window beside them  
“No” Oliver responded with an everlasting smile caught in every facet of his expression   
Felicity looked at him with a hitched eyebrow and slightly folded lips  
“Maybe” he chuffed “okay, probably”

Felicity drew in a snip of air before she blew it out in a soft sigh.  
“Does that scare you?” Oliver asked kindly   
She thought about it for only a moment, months ago her answer would have been different, but right now it was as clear as the nose on her face.  
“No, it doesn’t” she plucked the second ring from the box and held Oliver’s hand in her own, his fingers draping off the edge of her hand as his palm completely covered hers.

“You know we can’t get married right now, right?” she quipped as she admired the tiny ring pinched between her fingers  
“Now that would be crazy” Oliver laughed   
“Right, I did that last time” Felicity spoke absently as she pushed it onto his little finger until it stopped snug against the knuckle “and my mother was not at all amused, I couldn’t do that..” Felicity stopped suddenly her eyes pinging up to Oliver

“Oh my god, you have to meet my mother” she gaped, her eyes petrified   
“Yea that’s usually how this works, and you get to meet mine”   
“But, uh, and, you, and, her, and oh god” she muttered, her fingers wildly jumping from pointing to Oliver, the window and to her  
“It’ll be fine, mothers like me, I’m very likeable”  
“I’m not worried she won’t like you Oliver, it’s just, well, I love her, she’s my mom so of course I love her, but she can be a lot to handle”   
She could feel her heart racing at the speed of light and as ridiculous as she knew it was, she could feel herself panicking just a little  
“I handle you just fine” Oliver smirked, pulling her in for a tight embrace which she immediately relaxed into  
“Why do I get the impression that was overtly sexual in reference?” she breathed, listening to the way his heart thudded in his chest

Oliver was about to reply with some witty remark when the 1812 Overture rung loudly through the room, the sound originating from Felicity’s bag on the couch a few feet away.

“Someone is trying to Skype me” she laughed as she peeled away from the embrace and lumbered over to her bag, pulling her tablet out  
“Oh my god, how did she know?” Felicity gaped as her mum’s smiling picture flashed across the screen  
“It’s your mother?” Oliver asked as he tried to peak over her shoulder  
Felicity pressed the tablet into her chest and spun around.

“She knows”  
“Felicity, I doubt…”  
“Oh you don’t know my mother, she can sniff out an engagement or a baby a mile away, it’s like some sixth sense”  
“Are you going to answer it?”  
“Noooooo” Felicity replied, shaking her head furiously

The ringing stopped and Felicity let out a heavy sigh of relief.  
“So you’re just not going to tell her about us?”  
“Of course I am” Felicity soothed her hand down Oliver’s arm “I just have to, um, not right now. I love my mother, she is strong and she raised me on her own, she’s amazing, but she’s a little” Felicity paused, looking for the right word as she tapped her finger to her lips, her tablet still pressed into her chest “unorthodox. You do not want to know what she got Cooper and I as a wedding present”

“I need to practice how I’m going to tell her, so she doesn’t scream and the neighbours don’t think something terrible is happening” Felicity continued as she paced a small circle   
“I mean maybe I could just not tell her for like a really long time and then I could just write her a letter, or like a post card” she mumbled as she put the tablet down on the table and continued pacing

“Felicity?”  
“Do people still send postcards, I feel like that’s probably a dying art form, but who doesn’t love a postcard?”  
“Felicity?”   
“Maybe I could snapchat her from Starling?”

Felicity continued walking, looping the room till she found herself at the far end of it, tapping her fingers on the wall there.

“You’re making me dizzy, stay still” Oliver sighed as Felicity looked across the room at him, perplexed “Your mom will be happy for you”  
“I know, it’s not that”  
“So what’s the problem?”  
Felicity chewed on the corner of her nail and shrugged her shoulders. She honestly didn’t have an answer.

The same ringtone sparked up once again severing the silence in the room. Oliver picked up the tablet as Felicity lunged across the room. As Oliver held it out for her his thumb inadvertently pushed the ‘answer’ button and the ringing stopped.

“Hon?”  
Oliver titled it up, confused at what had happened and then equally as horrified when he realised what he had done.  
“Who are you?” Donna asked as she leaned in closer to the screen and fluffed her coifed hair behind her shoulder “I was trying to ring my daughter, but I seem to have..”

“Hi mom” Felicity interrupted as she tugged the tablet from Oliver’s hands and walked towards the couch

“Felicity? Who was that fine piece of meat?”  
“He can hear you mom”  
“Well that’s okay, most men would be flattered with knowing they’re attractive. When your father and I were together and he got naked I would always..”  
“Mom, please god stop” Felicity sighed “his name is Oliver”

“Does Oliver have a last name?”  
“Queen, ma’am” Oliver replied as he sat down beside Felicity who had gone a particularly fetching shade of pink across the apples of her cheek  
“Wait, you’re” Donna leaned in closer to the screen before plopping back into her chair with a broad smile “You’re Oliver Queen, the hot billionaire from Starling City, oh dear lord, and I’m sat here in my jammies”

“Really, that’s what you wear to bed?” Felicity quipped as she shook her head at her mother’s hot pink lace chemise   
“You never know when you might need to evacuate your apartment and I like to look my best” Donna shrugged effervescently

Felicity folded her lips together and smiled with a short nod. Love her or leave her, _that was her mother_.

“So are you two friends? You didn’t tell me Oliver Queen and you were friends”  
“We’re not, not really” Felicity lied before Oliver elbowed her lightly in the side and, off screen, mouthed the words ‘tell her’

“We’ve actually being seeing, _seeing_ , each other” Felicity remarked, her eyes tracking absently to the ceiling as she scratched a spot near her temple with her left hand  
“Oh my god” Donna shrieked, loud enough to cause Felicity to jolt the tablet on her lap

“It’s no big deal mom, we’re just dating” Felicity sighed as her eyes closed in sheer embarrassment   
“Oh my god, that” Donna repeated, pointing a finger towards the screen as her other hand cupped across her broad smile and her eyes danced with glee  
“What?” Felicity asked as she looked down at her chest assuming her mother was pointing down there

“Felicity” Oliver whispered as he tried to catch her attention discretely   
She looked at him with a crinkled nose and a scrunched brow.  
Oliver tapped down on the ring on his little finger and then nodded at the hand she had used to scratch her head moments earlier.

Felicity looked down at her left hand “Fuck” she cursed under her breath when she saw it, the big, hard-to-miss, sparkling engagement ring

“Felicity are you…” Donna clapped her hands together excitedly “are you engaged?”  
Felicity could distract and skirt the issue when her mother didn’t ask a direct question, but she could never out and out lie to her mother and so she sat there with a completely blank expression on her face and her lips widely parted.

“Felicity? Hon? I think the screen has frozen, you’re not moving?”  
Oliver looked at Felicity whose expression was like that of petrified wood.

“Um, no, it hasn’t” Oliver said kindly as he angled the tablet slightly in Felicity’s hands to point a little more at him “she’s just surprised, she, um, hadn’t planned on telling you this way, Ms Smoak”

“Oh please, call me Donna, or mom” Donna chuckled which pulled a soft smile from Oliver’s lips  
“So, are you a good guy? My girl deserves a good guy”

Oliver took a deep, honest breath and spoke “I sure hope I am, and your daughter deserves every good thing, she deserves the world”  
“And you plan on giving her that?”  
“I do” Oliver said with a simplistically pure nod of his head

“Because that last little rat, he once told me the same thing, but he was clearly lying. You know he was her first love, I get that, she lost her virginity to him so I understand but..”  
“Mom, please stop” Felicity begged as she snapped the camera back  
“I’m just saying that first loves can be problematic, they promise you the world but deliver you a broken heart, just like your father, although I did get you from that. I just thank god you didn’t have any kids with that little rat Cooper”

“Okay mom”  
“Wait” Donna said, her eyes narrowing “You’re not pregnant now are you?”  
Felicity squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her hand into her head, in a pointless effort to make this nightmare stop.  
“Because that’s no reason to get married if you are”  
“I’m not pregnant”  
“Phew” Donna grinned as she playfully swiped her hand across her forehead “So when do I get to meet you properly Oliver? I guess I could drive down to Florida”  
“No mom, no need to do that, it’s a long drive, honestly, I promise to come and visit soon” Felicity replied before Oliver could answer the question directed at him

He smiled and offered a sympathetic shrug.  
“You always promise that” Donna pouted pensively

“Oh shoot mom, look at the time, I’m late for work. I love you and we’ll talk soon okay?”  
“Well I could..”  
“Love you mom”  
Donna sighed begrudgingly and she waved a perfectly manicured hand in a sad goodbye.  
“Alright hon, call me soon. Bye Oliver”  
“Bye ma’am”  
“Donna” she corrected   
Oliver nodded responsively.

“Night mom, bye” Felicity chirped before she abruptly hung up on the call and heaved out a heavy sigh  
“That was mortifying”  
“I thought she took that very well. Also your mother is…”  
“Don’t say it” Felicity warned  
“Surprising”

Felicity stood and walked the short distance to her bag where she slotted the tablet.  
“But you did lie to her” Oliver swooned as he followed her and wrapped his arms slyly around her waist

Felicity smiled as she turned in his arms and looked up with him with a perfect pout and wide eyes.  
“You told her you were late for work”  
“And?”  
“And you don’t start for at least another hour”

Felicity grinned as she dove her hands under Oliver’s white stretch tee and let her fingers caress the tight muscles she found there.  
“Shut up and take me to bed”

 


	15. The End

**[Day 126: At Sea]**

“Fuck” Felicity panted, a breath lurching from her mouth with lucid pleasure  
“That. There. Spot” she moaned as her hands gripped onto the side of the Jacuzzi

She groaned without restraint as her head lulled backwards, the tip of her ponytail dipping into the warm water as steam rose from it in the thick of evening, a blanket of stars stitched up in the sky above them.

She could feel every movement his hands made, each more pleasurable than the last as wave after wave had her mind and body completely raptured.

“God, oh my God, that feels so good” she groaned as her teeth snipped tiny bites into her lower lip, pinching it red in parts  
“Harder, please” she pleaded, her words twisted like grunts

Her nails dug into the padded lip of the Jacuzzi, whitening her knuckles.  
“Yeahmmm-oh-mmmm”

“Felicity, John Diggle is going to put his big old head over that fence and give us the most disapproving of looks if you keep making those noises” Oliver warned as his thumbs sunk into the arch of her foot and Felicity groaned a little more.

“You” she sighed “magic hands”  
“You could just stop wearing heels everyday” Oliver quipped as he gently eased her foot into the lightly churning water before scooping the other into his hands

Felicity tipped her head back up and glared at Oliver with one raised eyebrow and a twisted half smile painted in her lips.  
“Do not criticise shoe choice, understood” Oliver laughed before Felicity let her head fall back again

Oliver smiled as he watched her, her milky complexion a soft glow in the bands of light coming from inside the cabin and leaking out onto the deck. Beads of water formed crooked lines across her naked shoulders and the water danced gently right at the curve of her breasts. He swiped his tongue across his full bottom lip, hungering for a taste of her.

“Seriously, magical hands” she sighed, her warm breath making a funnel of fog into the cool night air

“I never did ask you how your mother took the news” she continued as she let her eyes float closed  
Oliver swallowed, he had deliberately avoided filling Felicity in on the conversation that he could only describe as curt.

Felicity let the question linger, unanswered, for a minute more before she drew her head slowly up and blinked morse code at Oliver.  
“Well enough” he awkwardly answered, blank of any way to put a positive spin on it

Felicity sat up, promptly tugging her foot from between Oliver’s hands and folding it back into the water.  
“Well enough?” she repeated his words with her brows tugged inward and her lips poised over the last syllable

It wasn’t that the conversation with his mother had gone poorly – it hadn’t; but it hadn’t exactly gone the same direction as the one the two of them had had with Donna Smoak.

He was struggling to form an answer that wouldn’t come off incredulous.  
“She doesn’t like me, does she?” Felicity mused as her brow dropped and her lips folded over the inference she had made

“That’s not it” Oliver quickly retorted, stretching out his arm till his hand found the side of her knee beneath the water  
“I wasn’t lying when I said she liked you Felicity, she does, she thinks you’re remarkably different to any other girlfriend she’s encountered; her words not mine” he continued as his fingers smoothed lines down the inside curve of her silky leg

The _but_ hung ominously between them, just waiting for one of them to collect it.

“But, she thinks I’m in it for the money?” Felicity finally spoke  
“She thinks we might be rushing and she has concerns about where that could leave my company stocks and portfolio if this” he sighed, unwilling to finish his own sentence because he knew it would sound so much more worse when he let go of the words out loud  
“Doesn’t work out?” Felicity finished his sentence

Oliver nodded – painfully slowly.  
“I understand” Felicity replied, not forlornly but with a sense of clarity  
“Felicity, it doesn’t matter what-“ Oliver started, but his words were stopped when Felicity smiled and raised her hand

“Oliver, it’s okay, you don’t need to explain it. I get it. This must seem crazy to literally anyone else on the planet”  
“It didn’t seem so crazy to _your_ mother”  
“Donna Smoak has always being a bit of a wonderful anomaly, but she’s hardly the voice of reason” Felicity chuckled, a brief recollection of the time her mother had insisted public sex was a necessity for a healthy relationship

“I understand your mother’s concerns Oliver” Felicity shrugged as she interlaced her fingers with Oliver’s “Get her lawyers to draft something up, I’ll happily sign it.

Oliver clutched her fingers tighter as he slowly shook his head and moved weightlessly through the water, pressing Felicity against the wall with his body directly in front of her and her breasts bobbing against his chest.  
“I’m not going to do that”  
She tweaked her brow and stared at him with a cocked head.  
“Oliver, it’s fine, it makes sense” she quipped, following his eyes with her own as they walked across her face

“I don’t want to make sense” he huffed indignantly  
He was acting like an impetuous child so she followed suit by rolling her eyes at him.  
“Signing a prenup may make all the sense in the world Felicity, but to me it’s an out, a plan B and I don’t want one. You’re my plan A and I don’t need to plan for any other eventualities”

She let an exacerbated sigh slip from her lips. She knew he meant well and his words were laced with nothing but charm, but she would always be an analytical thinker first and foremost.  
“Oliver” she grumbled as he ignored her sighs and pressed his lips to the side of her elongated neck, drinking up the misted droplet of water and fine sweat he found there

“Felicity” he moaned against the side of her neck as his teeth slightly nipped in against the pulse point he found there.

The sensation of the warm water encasing her body together with the lulling rhythm of his drawn and sensual kisses was doing nothing to stir Felicity into arguing the point, but she had a little more left in her yet.  
“Oliver, I’m not offended by this, I’m” she let slip a soft mewl in response to a sweep of his chest against her breast “okay. To. Sign” she panted slow breaths intermingled with her words when his hand started to roam up her body

“Ittttttt” she moaned when his fingers reached her apex and pressed the fabric of her swimsuit between her folds, sparking her aroused clit

Oliver pulled his lips back from her neck, blowing a soft feathering of cool breath against her skin as his eyes sunk into hers.  
“Where do I need to put these magical hands to make you stop talking about this?” he grinned as he swiped his thumb against her bundled nub

“Fuck” she groaned, the argument slipping from her mind no matter how hard she tried to hold onto it.

“There?” he whispered, his short breaths pushing back stray wisps of hair that spayed over her ear  
She snagged her lower lip into her mouth with her teeth and pinched it there as she nodded with quick bobs.

She pressed her aroused nipples, sheathed behind the tiny scraps of her thin bikini top, into his hard and wet chest as his fingers walked up her mound until they found the band of her crisp white swimsuit.

Oliver drunk up the small whimper that fluttered from her parted lips as he dove his hand under the fabric of her swimsuit and slid his thick finger between her pleading sex.  
“John” she mewled against his cheek as his lips ravished the threads of her neck

“You really need to stop saying other men’s names when we’re being intimate Felicity” Oliver smiled, his lips grinning against the warmth of her wet skin  
Her hands ran over the curves of his shoulders as she gently tried to nudge him away.  
“We can’t here Oliver, John might hear” she pleaded with a rasped tone  
“So, don’t scream when I make you cum” he winked as he dipped his strong finger into the cusp of her entrance

Her eyes widened and her lips fell open as her fingers curved over and her nails dug into the back of his shoulders.  
“But here?” she muttered, unable to form full sentences with the feeling of his finger just hovering there

“I would say the fact we _haven’t_ done it here yet is quite remarkable” he cajoled before his eyes turned a deeper shade of blue and he drew his tongue along her jawline “we get off the boat in two days and this is one of the last places we haven’t”

“Well, who am I to argue with that logic?” she smiled as her fingers relaxed and her hips rocked into his chest

Oliver kissed a deliberately slow trail of kisses along her collarbone which started at the curve of her shoulder and snaked towards her neck. Felicity dropped her head to the other shoulder as his affections reached her neck. She held her bottom lip between her teeth as he nipped in against the threads of her neck once more, desperate to elicit soft groans from her sinfully swollen lips.

Her lips fell open against his earlobe as she turned her head towards him and breathed a fine sigh against his skin. She felt his whole body tense at the sensation and a crop of goose bumps sprung up under the delicate touch of her fingertips that roamed his shoulders.

She felt the short sharp tug of her swimsuit bottoms as Oliver pulled them away, the water providing a resistance he had not planned for as she laughed, bemused, into his ear. Each tone her voice took on grew the erection between his legs and no sooner had her bottoms dropped to the tiled floor of the Jacuzzi, Oliver removed his and sent them to the same fate.

He pulled back to watch her, enjoying the way her ponytail had become a little more messy when his head stroked the side of it and drinking in the way her eyes watched him, pulling him deeper in love with her with each second he spent looking at them.

His lips crashed onto hers, finally unable to hold back from taking them, tasting them. She moaned into his mouth, breathy and hungry, as his tongue snaked into the warm depths on her mouth. He firmed the kiss, pressing Felicity into the side of the Jacuzzi and lifting her slightly out of the water, the cold air sharp against her skin.

Felicity twisted in his arms and with a splash and tidal ripple of water she spun him, his back now flat against the padded lip of the pool and her body straddling him, the kiss now broken.

Oliver smiled as she rocked against his erection, teasing it with her folds as she slipped him in and out of between them. He groaned from his gut, raw and lustful were the rasped breaths that followed when he realised that she had so easily taken the control from his hands and placed it in her own.

The pluck of her left eyebrow and the glint in her eye told him the story of what Felicity wanted from him and under these circumstances – and probably any similar ones – he was not too proud to give it to her.

“Please” he hummed, the gravel in his tone unable to be hidden  
“Please what?” she smiled as she rolled her tongue across her lips, the salty remnants of his lips still to be tasted there

He could feel the blood rushing to his cock as she squeezed her thighs together and sucked the tip of it between her folds like a secret kiss.

“Fe-lis” he grunted, unable to even get the rest of her name out as his head fogged with nothing but the imagery of how good it would feel to be buried deep inside her

She lingered a kiss on his forehead as she opened her legs a little wider and sunk down into his throbbing cock. She didn’t wait to stretch around him as she took him in slowly, gasping hot breaths against his sweat-peppered forehead.

His hands clenched in around her waist, holding her straight as she opened wide to him, taking him in completely and burring his cock down to the hilt inside her. Oliver knew he wouldn’t last long, that the warmth of the water churning around him and the tightness of her pulsing walls around his hard cock were a recipe for a fast orgasm.

“Fast or slow” he grunted as she rocked into him without lifting away from him  
“Fast” she pleaded, her own body hanging on by mere threads

Oliver smiled, unable to express in words just how glad he was to hear that. Felicity dug her hands into the lip of the Jacuzzi and pressed her forehead onto Oliver’s, bracing herself for what she knew was coming as his hold on her waist grew tighter.

She rolled her hips back, lifting an inch off him before he pulled her back, thrusting his cock back inside her. She repeated her move, slowly pulling away from him before he swept her back in. Each thrust became faster than the last as the water lapped and splashed around them.

Felicity bit into her lip to stifle the cries of pleasure that were dancing up from her chest with each quickened thrust that Oliver continued to bombard her with. She could hear him panting in her ear as he chased the rhythm and speed of each thrust.

He knew he was close, he could feel the band tightening across his chest and he had lost all feeling beneath his knees. He felt each slap of her perfectly round ass against his thigh as they continued the back and forth motion they had developed like a tango.

There was nothing in the world that felt like being buried inside her, her thumbs stroking his shoulder, her warmed breaths fanning against his skin. The soft moans she let fall from her trapped lips.

He desperately wanted to know if she was as close as he was, but before he could find the words to ask he could feel the sudden constrict of her walls against his throbbing cock before she came in a silky curtain around him.

Seconds later came his own release, firing up inside her with a heavy grunt and a drawn moan of what was supposed to be her name but come out as nothing more than a jumble of consonants.

They slowed their rhythm in unison, Felicity stilting to a slow rock of his cock inside her, milking each last remnant from his shaft as his tip played pleasurably with her sensitive walls.

“Fuck” Oliver sighed, completely awash with satisfied pleasure as they both stayed there, unwilling to move from this place.

 

* * *

 

**[Day 128: Florida]**

Felicity let the whips of sea-salted air fill her nostrils and mist against her dewy complexion as the high afternoon sun scorched through the clouds. Florida wasn’t home, not by a long shot, but strangely there was something so familiar about it that it felt like a whole new chapter in a novel that was only just beginning.

“Are you ready for this” Oliver smiled as he grasped her hand in his own.  
The wharf was lined with a sea of faces that were either there to stare at one of the fanciest cruise ships in the world (‘the modern take on Titanic’ a newspaper had ominously called it) or to welcome home friends of family they had not seen for months.

Whatever the reasons for being there, it created an ambient feel of home.

 _Was she ready?_  
It was a question she had asked herself more times that she could count over the last few days as this day drew ever closer. If she was being honest; the answer was simply that she didn’t know – but, as an addendum to that – she was damn ready to find out.

“Let’s go find out” she smiled as the que to disembark moved a few steps forward  
“Is someone waiting out there for you John?” Felicity asked as her free hand tapped his shoulder

He nodded with an uninhibited smile pressed onto his face.  
“My wife and daughter”  
“I bet they missed their sensei” Felicity winked, the talk that they had still a closely kept secret between them

It took a few more minutes till their feet touched down on the wharf and everything became unavoidably real.  
They were _home_ , together.

It was John who spotted his wife first and without any regard for it, he dropped the small duffle bag in his hands and ran through the small gathered crowd and collected both her and the small infant she was holding into a bear hug that looked like it could be counted as one of the best hugs in the world.

Oliver collected the duffle bag and followed John, trailing Felicity along behind him.

“Oliver, Felicity, this is my wife Lyla and my baby girl Sara” John beamed proudly as he lowered Lyla back onto her feet “Lyla, this is Oliver and Felicity”  
“It’s nice to meet you, John has spoken about you a lot” Lyla smiled, a millisecond wink offered in Felicity’s direction causing her cheeks to flush pink

“You called me Oliver, Mr Diggle” Oliver remarked as he handed John his discarded duffle bag  
“I think we’re at least halfway towards being friends Oliver” John replied as he slapped Oliver’s shoulder “but you still got a road ahead of you”

Oliver nodded, he understood, now that they were back in the _real world_ he had a new type of journey ahead of him in his recovery, one that wouldn’t be straight and probably wouldn’t be easy. But he could do it – because for once, he _wanted_ to.

“I’m going to go home and be with my wife for the weekend, but I will be in touch next week about putting some strategies in place” he remarked as he stretched out his free hand to Oliver

Oliver took it with and with a firm shake of their hands they parted as friends.  
“Take care John and thank you” Felicity spoke as she leaned in and gave him a friendly embrace  
“Remember what I said, love can be a gamble, but boy does it ever pay out when you find it” he spoke quietly as his hand held the back of her head “he’ll be worth it”

Felicity pulled back and gave him an ever-thankful smile before the group parted ways – at least for now.

It was a few more moments before they spotted Tommy in the distance and his hand raised into the air once he recognised them.  
“You look great Tommy” Felicity spoke first before he scooped her into a hug, spun her around and plopped her back down in the same spot next to Oliver  
“That wasn’t a little too friendly was it?” he laughed, looking from Felicity to Oliver, who was wearing a deadpan expression

“I’m not sharing” Oliver growled with a menacing glare before Tommy raised his hands in surrender and a smile broke across Oliver’s lips  
“I’m reformed I swear, no more random hook-ups” Tommy laughed  
“And the other thing?” Felicity asked, her brow tugged up and her lips pressed together  
“Clean, I promise. I can call my sponsor for you to talk to”  
“That’s not necessary” Felicity replied with softened eyes  
“Because you believe me?” he asked, sensing there was more to the look Felicity was currently sporting  
“Because I already spoke with them” she shrugged  
“How did you know ….?” his words trailed off as he shot questioning eyes to Oliver who simply shrugged  
“No point man, she has ways” Oliver laughed, his shoulders jostling lightly

“So are you going to give me your friend’s number now?” Tommy asked as he casually ran his finger though his dark tousled locks  
“Nope” Felicity remarked shortly with a grin  
“Your girlfriend is mean” Tommy grimaced as he looked back at Oliver who just shrugged once again

“I don’t need to” Felicity added as she bit the inside of her lip to stifle the smile that was growing  
“Because?”  
“She’s right behind you” Felicity replied as she let the smile go and encompass her entire face when she pointed a slender finger over Tommy’s shoulder

“Tommy I presume?” a petite brunette with piercing brown eyes quipped as she nervously clutched a hand her arm  
Tommy stood there with little more than a smile on his face and no words coming to his mind.

Caitlin looked over Tommy’s shoulder to Felicity who just laughed.  
“It’s nice to see you Cait” Felicity remarked as she embraced one of the few people she truly considered a friend  
“You have to tell me all about your trip” Caitlin smiled as the friends embraced for an extended time “and about him” she added in a whisper into Felicity’s ear as her head nodded over towards Oliver  
“Absolutely” Felicity winked as they pulled back from the embrace unanimously

“Caitlin, Tommy. Tommy, Caitlin” Felicity introduced, words still failing Tommy  
“It’s nice to meet you” Caitlin said as she extended an arm which Tommy reciprocated  
“She’s told me hardly anything about you” Tommy replied, their hands still gripped in an abandoned handshake  
“I passed a cute little coffee shop, maybe we could talk?” Caitlin asked shyly, her head a bounce of soft waves as she twisted her head to look back towards the city  
“I drink coffee” Tommy replied, before screwing up his face at the awkwardness of his words  
“Do you guys want to come?” Caitlin asked, her eyes saying much more as they looked back at Felicity ‘ _please don’t_ ’

“No, you guys go on, we’ll catch up tonight” Felicity replied as she waved them on  
They started to walk away when Oliver leaned in and placed an unexpected kiss against Felicity’s cheek.  
“What’s tonight?” he asked as he pulled slowly away  
“Double date” Felicity winked before they watched Tommy stop, turn around and walk back to them.

He took Felicity’s hand and shook it vigorously.  
“She just said a word I don’t understand and she’s gorgeous, thank you” he quipped, grinning wildly  
“You’re welcome, be nice” Felicity warned with a gentle smile  
“I will” Tommy answered as he went to walk away again “Um, it would be great if you never mention the first time we met” he added as he waved a finger between him and Felicity

She rolled her eyes slowly up to the sky, scrunched her nose and shrugged “too late”  
Tommy heaved a grimaced sigh before he chuckled softly “awesome”

They watched him walk away for a second time into the distance before Oliver snaked his hand around Felicity’s waist and pulled her tight against his body.  
“About tonight” he started as her eyes wandered up to meet his  
“You don’t want to double date?”  
“I just” he paused, scrunching up one eye “there is some-“

“Felicity!” a wildly familiar voice called from behind them  
Felicity’s eyes widened and she stayed anchored to the floor and even when the voice called out her name again she dared not turn around.

“You didn’t” she mouth, her eyes boring into Oliver’s  
Oliver’s lips twitched and his shoulders rounded the slightest of shrugs.  
_He did._

“It’s nice to meet you Ms Smoak” Oliver smiled kindly as his arm nudged Felicity until she turned around  
“Oh please” Donna quipped effervescently as she pulled Oliver into a hug “We’re almost family remember, you call me Donna, or” she paused, flicking her blond hair over her bare shoulder “mom”

“I hope you had a nice trip down Donna” Oliver said as his hand held tightly onto Felicity’s waist as though he thought she might try to escape.

The thought had crossed her mind.

“Are you kidding, that private plane you sent was amazing, I even got a manicure on board” she brimmed as she fluttered her perfectly painted pink nails  
“You look skinny honey, have you been eating?” Donna enquired as she turned towards Felicity and placed a hand on either cheek

“Yes mom” Felicity sighed before she leaned in to embrace her mom for the first time in months and, no matter how hard she would protest anyone claiming it, it felt even more like home there.

“It’s hot in Florida” Donna casually remarked as she pulled back  
“You live in a desert” Felicity mocked jokingly  
“All the same, it is hotter than a stripper’s g-string here. I’m going to get a cold drink from the store over there and then you’re going to tell me everything” she decided as she patted the ring on Felicity’s hand between her palms “You want anything?”

Both Oliver and Felicity shook their heads before they watched her walk to a nearby store.  
“You invited my mother?” Felicity snipped as she slapped Oliver’s arm  
“She messaged me a few times, said she missed you”  
“You’ve been messaging my mother?” she announced boisterously  
“Just a few times and then she sent a bunch of sad face emojis, so I invited her down. Don’t be mad”  
Felicity let the corners of her mouth slowly fold up into a smile.  
“I suppose I can’t really be mad” she shrugged  
“Because I’m adorable and sweet?” Oliver smirked as both his arms circled her waist  
“Yes that” Felicity beamed in response as her hands gripped the open placket of his navy shirt “And because I invited your mother too”

Oliver’s hands dropped from her waist and sunk in around her wrists.  
“You did what?” he piqued  
“I know you don’t want to sign anything Oliver, but I do, if for no other reason than to show you I’m all in this and nothing but you and I matter to me. So I’m going to read what she has tonight when we meet her and I’m going to sign it” she pecked his cheek softly “What you do with it after that is up to you”.

Oliver smiled, he’d already learnt there was no point arguing with Felicity.

He never signed it.

* * *

  
**[One Year Later]**

“There has to be more ice cream” Felicity breathed, her voice teetering on the edge of reasonable and emotionally compromised  
“There really isn’t” piped Caitlin as she hovered around the bed Felicity sat perched on the edge of

“You’re lying to me” Felicity quipped as she felt the tears brimming behind her perfectly lined eyes “and now I’m going to start crying” she bemused as she tossed her hands up in the air  
“Don’t Felicity, not again, just breath” Caitlin soothed as she awkwardly backed up against the bed and with her hands blindly waving behind her found the edge of it and lowered herself onto it.

“Don’t you dare have that baby here” Felicity jested as a rogue smile bounced onto her lips  
Caitlin offered Felicity and exacerbated look as she ran her hands over the impressive large baby bump she was sporting.

“I can’t believe Thomas knocked you up” Felicity sniffed  
“He hates it when you call him that” sighed Caitlin as she handed Felicity another tissue  
“Tommy is not a name for a grown up” Felicity goaded as she lightly dipped the tissue under her eyes

“There is really no ice cream?”  
Caitlin shook her head with crinkled lips.  
“Even if there was, I don’t think you should be eating any”  
“Why?” Felicity said with a dropped lip pout  
“That wedding dress you’re in is a Monique Lhuillier and the world will weep if you spill mint chocolate chip on it” Caitlin jested as she nudged Felicity’s ribs with her elbow

“I’m in a wedding dress” Felicity said, her eyes stunned open  
“It is your wedding day”  
“Last time I wore black skinny jeans and a ripped Metallica tee-shirt” Felicity mused, her fingers twisting the tissue

“This isn’t last time”  
“But what if-“  
Caitlin placed her palm against Felicity’s cheek and moved her face so their eyes met.  
“This _isn’t_ last time. You’re not in a Metallica tee and Oliver _isn’t_ Cooper”

Felicity nodded as she nipped at her beautifully-red lips.  
“Oliver loves you and he’s downstairs waiting for you” Caitlin smiled, her voice calming the nerves that were feathering across Felicity’s chest.

“It’s time” the smiling wedding planner announced as she poked her head into the bedroom  
“Let’s go get you married” Caitlin winked.

Felicity nodded as she stood up and smoothed a slow and steady hand down the champagne lace of her dress before she feathered out the scalloped train. She took a deep breath, feeling the air spreading across her exposed back, her blond hair a tumble of soft curls down it.

“That sap won’t know what hit him” Caitlyn added as she fluffed out the floating silk chiffon veil which cascaded down to the floor

* * *

  
“You ready for this?” Donna asked as she clutched her daughter’s shoulders just outside the door to the rest of Felicity’s life

Felicity took a deep and steady breath, a sudden purge of every doubt and anxious nerve dissipating like dust on the wind. She was ready for this.  
“Absolutely” Felicity remarked as she let a refreshingly honest smile bleed across her lips

“I’m sorry you couldn’t have a good father to be here to walk you down the aisle” Donna sighed as she blotted her thumb across a stray tear that paused at the edge of her eye.  
“Why, I have you” smiled Felicity as she pushed back her mother’s hair “Now, walk me down the aisle, just don’t cry because it will be the third time the lady has done my makeup, okay?”

“I’m proud of your Felicity” Donna quietly cheered as the usher reached for the door  
“Why?”  
“You took a chance, you didn’t tell this one no”

The doors opened and Felicity’s eyes tracked up towards Oliver who turned at the same moment and instantly his eyes grew softly lidded and his smile fanned out across his lips and into his cheeks.

It was Tommy’s hand on his arm that anchored him because Oliver could swear that if it weren’t for it he would have floated down the aisle just to be closer to her in that instant.

It felt like he had spent years breathing air that was stagnant and choking but in that moment his lungs were clear and for the first time in what seemed like forever, the air was fresh.

She was here.  
She was beautiful.

* * *

  
The night was falling. The moon was high and the sky was littered in stars that seemed like they had been tugged a little closer from heaven to shine a little brighter for that night only.

Strung lanterns danced in soft breezes and notes of lilac drifted from the flowers that lined the wrap around deck of the boutique hotel nestled up a twisted road through the picturesque forest.

It was quaint and intimate; and despite the interest the society pages had shown in the couple, it had been a wedding day completely without interruption.

“I love you” Oliver whispered as the couple stole a moment in shadows of the night air  
“I love you too” Felicity mused as she nestled her head, now free from the veil, into his chest

The last year had not been without its trials – Oliver’s recovery had hit potholes along the way and he had been close to breaking a few times, but his resolve had grown stronger each time. His father had admitted to the affair but for their own imperfect reasons his parents had remained together, an oil painting of a family that, only when you looked closer, could you see the cracks.

Only time would tell how long that façade would remain.

“Thea would have adored you, she always wanted a sister” Oliver smiled, looking off into the distance at the small glass lantern at the corner of the porch that they had lit in recognition of her absence  
Felicity turned in Oliver’s arms, her dress making a shallow sweeping sound across the weathered wood underfoot. Her tiny hands curved around his cheeks as her thumbs stroked gentle lines just above his ear  
“She would have been so proud of you Oliver, of what you’ve done, what your capable of doing”

His watched her eyes, mesmerised by the tiny lights that danced across them. The kindness and love they portrayed was like nothing Oliver had even known before or that he would ever replicate in anything else.

He opened his mouth to speak but his words were stopped when the music playing from inside melted into his ears.

“Will you dance with me?” he asked, sinking his hands into the small of her back as he dotted feather light kisses across her temple  
She didn’t need to answer him with words as she laid her head against his chest and breathed in all that he was.

The words of the song sunk between them as the swayed slowly along with the melody.

_I'm gonna climb on top your ivory tower_  
_I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out_  
_We'll be falling, falling but that's OK_  
_'Cause I'll be right here_  
_I just wanna know_

_Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?_  
_Would you let me see beneath your perfect?_

“Thank you” Oliver whispered, his lips smoothed against her cheek  
“For what?” she asked quietly as the tips of her fingers laced just barely around his back  
“Taking a gamble”  
Felicity smiled against his chest before she plucked her eyes up to look at him at shrugged.  
“Thank you for being worth it”

  
**~The End~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who took the time to read this and an extra thank you to those of you who spurred me on by leaving kudos and comments.
> 
> This was one of my 'lighter' fics and what a fun experience it was. I'm forever thankful I decided to put this fic up for a vote (and that it won), that decision gave me the push to write this fic constructed on a lunchtime whim when I walked past a cruise ship.
> 
> I got to cross at least four things of my Olicity smut bucket list so yay!!!
> 
> Thanks again, I hope this ending is sufficiently fluffy.
> 
> Xox

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, as always I'm happy to receive comments in whatever form they take (right of reply is mine)
> 
> Also my obsessive nature requires I respond to all comments...so that's fun too.
> 
> @someonesaidcake


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